When Beauty Met the Beast
by disneyprincess2
Summary: A spin on the classic tale set in a modern day high school. How will the beauty fare? How does the beast become a beast? Find out this and more! I do not know the intellectual property of other literary works mentioned in the story.
1. Chapter 1

I watched the countryside roll by. The trees and fields whipped past the window of the car. We were moving again. I never stayed in one place long enough to get used to anything, let along make any friends. I was always the weird new girl who liked to read. No one ever bothered to try to get to know me, and now that I was a senior in high school, it was even less likely, not to mention it was about halfway through the school year. People are cruel, and angsty teenagers are no different.

"We are almost there, Thea," my father said to me.

"Great," I said, I tried my hardest to sound excited, but that excitement had left me too long ago. After you move about six times over the past two years, it is hard to get excited about another new town that you are just going to leave in a few months. We pulled off the interstate and began traveling some back-country roads to our new, or I guess I should say temporary, home.

My father and I had moved around ever since my mother left us. I think about her often. Does she care about us? Is she with another family? Why couldn't she stay, didn't she know that I needed her? She left a little over seven years ago, but the feeling of her leaving stayed with me. That is when we started moving from place to place. I couldn't tell my father, but I needed some stability. I was eighteen years old and I don't have a place that I call home. That's why I read so much. It helps me escape from my current situation and go somewhere amazing. I can be half way across the world or right in my backyard, or go back in time or see the future. Anything to get myself away from right now.

We pulled into the driveway of our new house. It was painted a deep blue with white shutters on the windows. The porch jutted out from the font of the house and the door was a deep gray. It was small, but it was enough for my father and myself. I peered out, I hated getting out of the car, it made everything so real. I slowly reached for the handle and opened the door. It was a dreary day, which was apparently normal here. The skies were overcast and it looked like at any moment it might start raining or snowing. It was cold enough to snow, the wind hit me when I exited the car like a million ice daggers into my face and body. I pulled my black jacket around my body.

"It has two bedrooms, so you will get your own, and this time, you will get your bathroom," my father said looking at me, I could tell he was trying to get me excited about it as well.

"That sounds great, dad," I said back and I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He smiled back at me. His hair short brown hair had begun to turn gray. His blue eyes were lined with wrinkles, but he still looked handsome I suppose. He had a slightly large nose, but it fit his face well. He turned and his profile was highly recognizable, mostly because of his nose and strong jawline.

We each grabbed a couple bags and walked up the front steps. He pulled out the key and unlocked the door. Lucky for us, we were able to send a moving crew with our furniture a few days early. The furniture sat in the front room and there were a few boxes along with it. I dropped the bags next to the sofa and walked toward the back of the house. I walked through a small living room and back into the kitchen and dining room. The kitchen was big enough to fit my father and I comfortably, but one other person would have made it crowded, not that we would be using the kitchen a lot, neither of us were very good cooks. I walked back into the dining room, and there was a sliding door at the rear of it. I took a peak out of the glass door. The backyard was a fair size with a small patio, enough to fit the round wire table and four chairs, but nothing more. A wooden fence surrounded the yard and the grass looked as if it needed mowed, but that was not really an option in the middle of January. I walked back to the front of the house and saw my father inventorying the furniture.

"Go on upstairs Thea, and pick out your bedroom," he said looking at the furniture, I am sure he was trying to figure out where to put all of it. I shrugged and walked toward one of my bags. I picked up the backpack with some of my books in it, and headed upstairs. The third stair creaked when I stepped on it and caught me off guard a little bit. I stopped climbing for a moment and righted myself and continued up the stairs. The house must have been older and remodeled, but I didn't know for sure. I found a bedroom right at the top of the stairs and a bathroom connected to it, I assumed this was the master bedroom, and I would leave this one for my father. I found a bathroom on the right side of the hallway and a bedroom at the end.

I walked in and it was slightly smaller than the other one. I saw a closet in the corner and opened it. It was small, but would do well for me since most days I wore jeans and some sort of t-shirt or sweater. I walked into the bathroom that would be mine and it was a fair size. Light blue tile surrounded the shower and the tub was a similar shade of light blue. I made a mental note that I would need a shower curtain, but the hooks were still there from the previous owner. The sink was a plain shade of white and a mirror hung above it.

I looked in the mirror, my brown eyes looked back at me. I could see the wavy brown hair that was falling under my gray hat. I looked exactly like my mother, or at least that is what my father told me. She had a round face with small features, which I had as well. The only thing that was like my father was my strong jawline. My large eyes were surrounded by black winged liner, but other than that and a few strokes of mascara, my face was makeup free. I didn't stare too long, I never thought I was anything special, nor did I really care. There was no reason to stare in the mirror and wish to change something that I knew I couldn't.

I shook my head and walked back into the hallway. I ventured back down the stairs to passed the squeaky third stair to see my father unpacking what looked like pots and pans.

"I don't know why we have these," he said, "we never use them."

I laughed because he was right, our diet consisted of take out and the occasional bowl of cereal or maybe, if we were fancy, a can of soup. We are not the cooking type, both of us are semi-ok with cleaning, but my mother was the cook.

I sat down next to him and helped to unpack a few of the boxes. We finally reached our dishes and utensils, which we took as a sign to go find a place for food. We took the car, which still had many of our boxes and bags, and took off down the road. We scoured the town for any sign of food. It seemed that the town was extremely small and the idea of only have one pizza place frightened me a little, it looks like one of us is going to have to become a cook.

We finally found a small pizza shop and we were both so hungry that we had to stop. My father found a spot on the road and parked only a short distance down the street. We were lucky in the sense that we had a smaller car, but still big enough to fit all the things we needed when we moved. We practically jumped out of the car and ran down the street to the pizza shop.

My father pulled open the door and held it open for me. I walked in shaking the cold off my jacket. There were several people in the shop, and it would have seemed that we had three heads each, since everyone just stared at my father and myself. I dropped my eyes uncomfortably and walked toward the counter. We looked over the menu and decided that a large pizza would probably fit the bill.

"Thea, why don't you grab a seat, I'll wait here," my father said to me. There was a slight line and I was tired from unpacking, so I was grateful for his suggestion. I walked back toward the door and picked a seat near the window. I looked out over the street and into the town. I peeled my jacket off and hung it on the back of my chair. I removed my gray hat and sat it on the table. Why did my father insist on moving to places where it was a chore to get ready in the morning or any time you were out? I made a mental note to ask if we could move to Florida next time.

"Is anyone sitting here?" a voice asked, breaking me from my thoughts of palm trees and sunshine.

I looked up to see a young man standing over me. He had black hair slicked back into a bun. His bright blue eyes shone in the light from the window. He towered over me, not only because I was sitting. In his hands were a sandwich and a drink of some kind.

"I'm sorry, yes," I said back, "My dad is up there getting ordering for us," I said motioning to the counter.

I hoped this would make him leave, but he sat down.

"I haven't seen you here before," he said, "Are you new to town?"

He began stuffing his sandwich in his face. I sat there in shock, who did this person think he was?

"Yeah, we just got here today. I'm sorry, who are you?" I asked. Why was this guy just sitting down in front of me and apparently, he left his manners at home.

"Greyson," he said through bites in his sandwich.

"Alright, Greyson," I said, but stopped because I literally had no idea what to say next. Just then, thankfully, another girl walked past. She turned her attention to Greyson and said, "Hi, Greyson, we have a table over there if you would like to sit with us." She motioned to a table with a few other girls and waited for his reply. She glanced at me, and if I was not mistaken, she even glared at me.

"I'm sitting here with the new girl," he said not even acknowledging her.

"Why don't you go sit with them? I am waiting for my father to come back. I am sure I will see you around," I answered, praying that he would get the hint. He looked up me and stopped eating. He dropped his sandwich on his plate and grabbed a napkin to wipe his face.

"You don't want to sit with me? Don't you know who I am?" he asked.

"Greyson?" I replied.

He scoffed, "I am the captain of the football and basketball teams. I am homecoming king, and I plan on being prom king. I am the guy in this town, people worship me, you should think about that," he heatedly explained to me.

He got up angrily and began to sulk over to the other girls' table. He turned about half way and said, "See you around."

I just bowed my head, praying no one else witnessed our interaction. Unfortunately, when I looked up everyone in the small restaurant was staring at me. This was not the first impression that I wanted. Even worse, I knew that he was going to be at school on Monday. He was the last person that I ever wanted to see again.

I sunk down into my seat hoping my father would come back before any other strangers sat down at the table. I looked over to the table with Greyson and he was just staring at me. I really wished I brought a book with me so I could at least try to look occupied.

Finally, my father came back holding a box of pizza.

"Who was that I saw sitting with you?" he asked as he opened the box.

"Just some guy, his name is Greyson," I said.

"Well…" I said pulling a piece out and sitting it on a plate handing it to me.

"Well, there is nothing to tell. He talked about himself to me the entire time. It was such an odd meeting," I said back, getting a little defensive.

"I won't ask about him again," my father said raising his eyebrow.

"Dad," I said, trying to make him understand about this guy. How rude and conceited he was, definitely not my type.

"It's ok, Thea, you don't have to explain to me," he said. We sat in silence for a few moments, mostly because we were devouring the pizza sitting in front of us. I ate the most pizza I think that I have ever had in my entire life, and between the two of us we finished the large pizza in one sitting.

When we made it home, we both could barely move, from the unpacking to the carb overload we were both ready for bed. We had to sleep on air mattresses and in sleeping bags since our mattresses would not arrive until tomorrow.

The rest of the weekend consisted of cleaning, shopping, unpacking and pizza. We only knew where the pizza place was in town, so pizza it was.

Sunday night I realized that I had to go back to school the next day. It was already January and everyone would be pretty settled into their classes by now. I was nervous. I was nervous to go to class. I was nervous about my classmates. And I was nervous about seeing Greyson again. I think that I was most nervous about seeing Greyson. I laid on my bed and heard a knock on my door.

"May I come in?" my father asked.

"Yes," I said sitting up.

"Are you ready for school tomorrow?" he asked coming to sit next to me on my bed.

"No," I said drawing my legs into my chest and laying my head on my bony knees.

"Thea, it will turn out ok in the end," he said wrapping his arm around my shoulders and kissing the top of my head.

"Dad, can you promise me that we won't move before the end of the school year? This is my senior year, and I just want to finish it here."

He sighed, "I wish I could make that promise, sweetheart, but I just can't. I will talk to my boss to see if that is an option, but I will do everything in my power to not have us move by the end of the year."

He pulled me closer and I started to cry into his chest. I had no idea why I was crying, I think all the emotions that I had been hiding were coming out right now.

"I wish mom was here," I choked out.

"I know sweetheart," he said, kissing me again on the top of my head, "I miss her too. She was always so good at this kind of stuff…"

I remembered how she would comfort me when I fell off my bike or got a bee sting. She was good at this stuff, but she wasn't here, and my dad was doing the best that he could.

"I love you, dad," I said through tears. I felt as though I didn't say it enough. He was everything to me and I couldn't imagine what I would do if something happened to him.

"I love you too, Thea. We will make it through this. I am hoping that soon they will hire me at the corporate office and we can stay in one spot, but until then we will be moving. Try to get some sleep, it is going to be a long day tomorrow. I know that your mom would be proud of you."

"Thanks, dad," I said, curling up under the blankets and comforter. He turned the light off and shut my door as he left. I laid there thinking. Thinking about everything and ever possible solution that could happen tomorrow at school and about what he said about my mom. I didn't think that I would ever fall asleep, but eventually I did.

It felt like five minutes after falling asleep that my father was knocking on my door to wake me up.

"Thea, get up sweetheart and start getting ready. You don't want to be late on your first day!"

I got up out of bed and went over to my duffle bag. I hadn't gotten around to unpacking all my clothes yet. I was searching for my favorite black long-sleeved t-shirt, and of course it was at the bottom of the bag. I laid it out on the bed next to my blue jeans. I figured it was good enough. I walked over to the bathroom to brush my teeth and fix my hair and makeup. My hair had fallen in long waves to about my waist and it looked fine to me. I drew on my winged linger and flicked on some mascara. I walked back to my room and dressed in the clothes that I had laid out. I pulled on a pair of boot socks and squeezed my feet into a pair of black combat boots.

I stopped and looked in the mirror on the back of my door. I saw a thin girl with long brown hair staring back at me. I pulled on my gray hat and flung my navy-blue backpack over my shoulder. I walked to the door and opened it. I could smell something coming from downstairs. It intrigued me. Was my father cooking? I walked downstairs trying my best to keep the third stair quiet. I walked around the corner through the half furnished living room into the kitchen.

My father was standing there in his dress shirt and tie making something over the stovetop.

"Hey," I said.

He turned around holding the pan with an oven mitt. I saw that he was attempting to make bacon, but it was burned and the toast on the plates were also burned to a crisp.

"Hey, I wanted to make you a nice breakfast before school, but…" he saw that I had seen the massacre in the kitchen already.

"I'll take a piece of both," I said plopping my backpack next to the refrigerator. I reached in and surprisingly found orange juice. I poured a glass in a plastic cup and poured another for my father. I sat down at the dining room table, which was surprisingly set up.

"You don't have to," he said shaking his head embarrassed.

"I want to! When am I going to eat at school? I honestly have no idea!" I said, smiling gently at him.

He chuckled and put a piece of both on a paper plate. I stared down at the black square and black strip on the plate. I bit into the toast first. It wasn't the worst piece of toast I have ever had, and honestly, he probably did a better job than I would have done. I waited until after a few bites to take a sip of orange juice.

He looked over at me and I smiled. I knew how hard my dad tried and I wanted to make sure that I could do anything to make him know that I thought he was doing a good job. If I had to eat burnt toast for the rest of the school year I would.

After I finished both the bacon and the toast, I grabbed my winter coat and headed out to the car. I climbed into the passengers' seat and looked over at my father. Leaving for the first day of school was always stressful, but for some reason this one felt even more stressful than normal. Was it because of Greyson? Or because I was now a senior and this was going to be the hardest time to make friends? Or was it because my mother still wasn't here?

He started the car and we drove to the school in silence. I could feel my breathing increase as we got closer and closer. We turned into the small parking lot.

"Do you want me to come in with you?" he asked putting the car in park and twisting the keys to turn off the car.

"No thanks, I think that I will be ok," I said. I was trying to be strong because I could see the guilty look on his face.

"Here is some money for lunch," he said handing me a five-dollar bill, "Do you need anything else?" he asked.

"Um, I think that I am good," I said back.

"Good luck," he said kissing my head.

"Thanks, dad," I said opening the door. I leaned back into the car for one more second, "I'll see you after school!" I said and slammed the door. He waved and I waved back. I could hear the car turn back on as I got about half way to the school. He always waited to make sure I was ok. I loved that about him.

I reached the front of the school, I took a deep breath as I looked at the small building. It was smaller than my other schools. The red brick didn't have its original color, but turned slightly gray and the mortar between the bricks had also turned a dull shade of gray. I reached the front doors. I stood there for a moment, I was early enough to wait for a minute. I wasn't ready to do this again. To learn a new school, new people, but none the less, I entered the building.

I took a deep breath when I stepped through the door. Part of the battle was over, but the real war had just begun. There were a few students milling around in the lobby. I walked forward and saw a receptionist sitting in a glass room. I walked toward the door and opened it. There were a few people in the office, most of them engrossed in what they were doing and didn't notice me.

"Can I help you?" asked the receptionist. She was an older woman with graying hair. She wore a sweater with birds on it and flowers. I figured she was in her early fifties or sixties. She was little and round from what I could tell.

"I am new here, and I was wondering where to go," I said.

"Oh, ok dear," she said sweetly, "I'm Mrs. Potter, I am the receptionist in the office. Let me see if I can find Principal Masters."

She got up and waddle to another door in the office. She came out of the room with a tall man who was probably about her age. He was losing his hair, and he had a little bit of a beer belly.

"Hello, I am Principle Masters, welcome to our high school, miss?" he asked, raising his blonde eyebrow.

"Thea, um Thea Ivans," I said.

"Yes, Miss. Ivans. Come on back to my office and we will find your class schedule."

I followed him through the office, adjusting my backpack straps. I felt more of the staff members eyes on me as I walked quickly to keep up with his long legs.

"Please have a seat," he said motioning to one of the chairs in front of his desk. I sat down on the wooden chair, that was not the most comfortable chair I have sat in. I think he did this on purpose so people would not want to visit him, and I hoped that I would never end up back in his office.

"Ivans, Ivans, Ivans, ah, here you are," he said pulling a piece of paper from a yellow file folder, "Here is your class schedule, I will have Mrs. Potter show your first class."

I looked down at the schedule. I had calculus, history, science, English and it looked like a study period as well.

"Alright, come with me," he led me back out of the office, "I hope that you enjoy your time here, if you need anything come down to schedule an appointment. Mrs. Potter? Would you mind showing Miss. Ivans here to her first class?"

"Certainly, sir," she said happily.

"Great, I hope you have a nice first day," he said and walked back to his office.

"Alright dear, let's see where we are going," she took a peak at my schedule, "Ok, we are headed to Calculus in room 219 with Mrs. Stevens. I have a feeling you are going to like her. She is an amazing teacher." She talked on until we got to the classroom about the school and such. We entered the room. There were about fifteen other students in the room. She walked me up to the teacher, she was a short older woman with light gray or blonde hair and blue eyes. She pushed her glasses up on her nose as she looked into the calculus book.

"Mrs. Stevens? This is Thea Ivans, she is the new student," Mrs. Potter explained.

"Nice to meet you Thea," Mrs. Stevens said, "Here is your book and here is a lock, it has the combination on the little slip of paper with it. Also, your locker number will be," she turned to look at a paper, "Ah, your locker will be number 2134. It should be down the hall on your left. Go ahead and put your jacket in your locker and come back here for class."

"Thank you," I said. Mrs. Potter walked me back out of the room and showed me to my locker.

"Do you need anything else, dear?" she asked.

"No, I think I will be alright. Thank you for helping me this morning," I said.

"If you need anything, let me know," she said and turned to walk back toward the office.

I opened my locker, it was an average size. I hung my jacket on the hook on the left side of the locker and closed it. I secured the lock and walked back to the room for class. Mrs. Stevens showed me where an empty seat was, and I sat down and looked at my schedule in more detail. I had calculus, then history, and English before I had a study period. After the study period I had lunch, followed by science and lab, French, and to finish the day I had some sort of music class. I sighed in relief to see that I didn't have to take a gym class. It looked like I still had a few minutes before class started, so I pulled out my book and continued to read. It was a story about a dystopian society after the world ended because of human interaction. It was an interesting book, I was engrossed in the plot and I felt as though I was hundreds of miles away with the characters battling the curses of the humans that had lived on the plant before them.

"Hey," I heard from someone sitting next to me. I turned to see a girl with her hair pulled back in a half pony tail. She wore a dress, and it looked like a pair of high heels. She was a pretty girl, high cheek bones, tall and thin.

"I'm, Sammie, I am the class president and president of the honors society and I help to show new students around. It is nice to meet you!" she said, "You are Thea, right? I heard you talking to Mrs. Stevens."

"Yeah, I'm Thea," I said in reply.

"What are you reading?" she asked. I was about to answer when the bell rang. I reluctantly put my book away, and pulled out a pencil and notebook.

"Alright everyone, settle down," Mrs. Stevens said gaining the classrooms attention,"We have a new student everyone, this is Thea Ivans, and she will be joining our class. So, make her feel welcomed."

I looked around and there were about twenty pairs of eyes looking at me. Most of which, I hoped, wouldn't make a big deal about a new student.

"Alright, let's get back to where we left off last class with derivatives," she began writing some numbers on the board when a student burst through the door. He was tall and he had brown curly hair, with bright blue eyes. He looked flustered, his face was red and he was breathing heavy. He had on a blue and white plaid shirt and a pair of blue jeans. His boots fell heavy as he walked.

"Adam, this is the third time this month that you are late, sit down and get ready for class," Mrs. Stevens said sternly. When she turned back around I watched him roll his eyes at her and plop down in the seat near the door. He was pretty handsome, minus the scar on the side of his face. It ran from his temple down to his chin. I caught myself staring at him, and tried to pull myself away and get back to my work, but I couldn't help looking at him. He hunched his broad shoulders over his desk as he copied what Mrs. Stevens had done on the board.

I made a mental note to aske Sammie about him after class. It wasn't too bad, at least I had done derivatives before. The bell rang and I gathered my stuff and was ready to head to my next class.

"Where are you headed?" Sammie asked sweetly, she peered down at my schedule, "Ok, I have the same schedule until lunch, but I am sure that someone will help you after that. Just follow me for now!"

I followed her as she told me about different ways to get places and different things about the school. She showed me the classrooms for some of the classes that we didn't have together, which I was grateful for.

"Any questions?" she asked.

"Yeah, what was the deal with that Adam kid?" I asked.

"Well…" she said, showing me my seat in the next class, "He moved here not too long ago, I think the beginning of the year. You probably noticed the scar on his face, he was in a car accident last year, and his family moved him here. He doesn't talk to too many people here. He isn't the friendliest person ever."

"Wow. A car accident? Was he ok?" I asked.

"Well, I think so, I mean he is, here right?" she said annoyed. I dropped the subject and listen to her drone on about whatever club she was in and why I should join. Adam walked into this class as well. He sulked to his seat in the back. He threw his book on his desk and got ready for the class to start. I walked up to the teacher explaining how I was new and they gave me the materials for that class. I listened to his monotone voice trying to make the Industrial Revolution sound interesting. I took notes, but I felt my mind floating to the back of the classroom and Adam. A car accident? That scar didn't seem to match what a car accident would do.

The bell finally rang, and I scurried after Sammie. I was excited to get to English class. I wondered what we were reading. Excited for this class, I walked right up to the teacher.

"Hi, my name is Thea Ivans, I am new here," I said to him. He was an older gentleman with gray hair. I pulled him away from whatever book he was reading. "Yes, Thea, I saw that you were coming today. I am Mr. Henry, and I am sorry that you probably won't be in today's discussion, we have just finished chapter three of part one of 1984 by George Orwell. I hope that you follow along with the discussion and catch up to the reading when you can."

"Alright," I said and found an open seat, but this time I was sitting next to Adam. I sat so I could see the non-scarred side of his face. I found myself fascinated by his handsome face. I caught myself staring again, and looked away quickly hoping he hadn't noticed.

"Alright class, what did you think about your reading for today?" he asked. No one spoke, not a single person, but people shifted uncomfortably around in their seats.

"Come on guys, if you don't start talking I am going to have to start calling on random people and I know how much you all love that, come on! What did you think? This is one time when there are no right or wrong answers."

I raised my hand, I had read 1984 before and figured I could stumble through an answer.

"Thea," he said, "Look guys! She hasn't been here and she is willing to give it a try. Go on Miss Ivans."

"I think that Winston is starting to know that Big Brother is really watching him. He is realizing what the government is doing and is starting to realize it in more aspects of his life. He has no proof to support his claim, but he is starting to become more paranoid, like for example the claim about the airplanes. I think it is really interesting how he is reacting to learning that the government is really watching him, and how they are completely demolishing the prospect of history and reinventing it. It can be related to society today, everyone is paranoid about everything watching us. We hear about people tapping the phones or watching via our laptop webcams and this was published in 1949 still has relevance today. It was meant to highlight the Nazi era, but I believe that it can be equated to the technological society that we live in today."

I looked around the room and everyone was just staring at me.

"Well done, Miss. Ivans," Mr. Henry applauded. I saw Adam's hand go up next to me.

"Yes Mr. Bentley" Mr. Henry said pointing in his direction.

"I think that Miss. Ivans makes a few good points, but I think that it is interesting how closely they are watching him. I think that Big Brother or the government knows that he is starting to remember and this could tear down a society that they worked so hard to create. The instructor yelling at him from the telescreen is the example I can think of. It is understandable that people go missing if they start to remember or know too much. The relevance to today doesn't matter as much, it could just be a brilliant literary work like this book." He finished.

"It does matter if it is relevant to today. If it is not relevant to today how will something be memorable? It is most definitely relevant, with the age of technology you never know who is watching you," I answered his last statement.

"It was meant to parallel the Nazi era, you said it yourself. It does parallel the Nazi era in the sense that some of these things did happen then. It is a fictional story though. Not saying that with the way society is headed that this may not happen, but it was also supposed to show the trajectory of the world and that we would have ended up here by 1984 if we did not stop and rethink what the Nazi's were doing."

"Alright," Mr. Henry stopped us, "I would like to see both of you after class, we can continue this discussion later, but you are leaving out the other eighteen people in the room."

I sat there for the rest of class thinking of how I could challenge Adam more after class. I saw him glaring at me and I did my best to ignore and take notes on what my other classmates and Mr. Henry were saying. The bell finally rang and everyone else got up and left the room while Adam and I waited by Mr. Henry's desk.

"What is your next class?" he asked.

"Study period," I said.

"Me, too," he replied.

"Great," Mr. Henry said closing the door, "Sit," he said motioning to two desks as he pulled his chair closer to us.

"I can see you are both passionate about reading, and I am excited to see two students who love to read as much as you two do. I have a few books that I would like both of you to read. We can discuss them here during your study period maybe once a week. I want to push you two to try something different. So, are you two ready to do that?" he asked.

"I don't think so Mr. Henry," Adam answered quickly.

"I just started here Mr. Henry, I thank you for the opportunity, but I don't think that I can. I have so much work to do already, and even more to catch up to the rest of the class," I said in response to Adam and Mr. Henry.

"Well, I respect that. We are going to start a group writing project after the book is finished, I want you two to work together. Maybe you can get on the same page, and if you both ever change your mind, I will be here."


	2. Chapter 2

He turned and wrote us late notes to our study period rooms. We were both going to the same class room and walked there in silence. He opened the door and strode in in front of me, letting go of the door. I quickly grabbed it so it didn't close in my face. I glared at him for not holding the door for which he just smirked. We handed our late notes to the teacher. He sulked off to a seat and I looked around for an open chair.

"New girl, come sit over here," I heard a familiar voice say, I turned to see Greyson, "Lucas will move," he said jerking his hand toward a smaller chubby kid with black hair cut short.

"I will be fine over here," I said, finding an empty seat on the other side of the room. When I put my backpack down and looked up, everyone was staring at me in silence.

"Why did you do that?" a red-haired girl sitting next to me asked.

"I didn't want to sit over there, plus I didn't want to make the other boy move his seat," I said simply.

"But that is Greyson," she said, emphasizing the last word.

"I'm sorry?" I asked stunned.

"He is like the king of the school, you do as he says," she said frankly.

"I would rather sit over here," I said again.

She just rolled her eyes at me and moved seats. I was ok with it, but it gave me a better view of Greyson. I just pulled out my book and began reading. The noise level in the room prevented me from actually feeling transported out of this building and away from everything.

"Can you believe her?" I heard the red-haired girl whisper to Sammie, "Saying no to Greyson like that?"

"I know," Sammie whispered back, "She is super weird. Always reading, and she asked me like a million questions about Adam. No one cares about him."

I felt tears rise to my eyes. I already was the weird girl who always reads. I looked over at Adam who was also engrossed in a book. I felt bad for him. He had been here even longer than I had and he had no friends.

I tried to get a peek at what he was reading. He shifted in his chair and I saw the title, he was reading a Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night. I smiled to myself. Not only did he like to read, he was interested some really beautiful literary works. I picked up my stuff and moved to a seat closer to him.

"I love this play," I said motioning to his book.

"Yeah," he said with an agitated edge to his voice.

"Yeah, it is actually pretty funny, but also romantic and touching," I said. I was trying to get him to talk to me.

"Yeah," he said eyeing me suspiciously.

"I'm not making fun of you," I said defensively, then I sighed and realized how that came out, "I just mean, it feels like being new here is a drag."

"It is," he said, "And it doesn't get any easier, especially when they find out every little detail about your life."

I looked over to him. His face looked sad, but it was short lived, as it returned to his normal scowl.

"Hey new girl," I heard Greyson say. I groaned at the fact that I finally got somewhere with Adam and he came over to ruin it.

I watched Adam roll his eyes and go back to reading.

"Hey," I said, looking back down at my book, hoping to deter him from talking to me, but I knew that was wistful thinking.

"What are you reading?" he asked, leaning in to look at what it was.

"A book," I answered, shifting it away from his sight.

"I know it's a book," he said impatiently, "what is it about?"

"Well, it is about a dystopian society that we have created based on our habits as human beings. It follows a group of people taking different ways to survive. How do the allocate the resources that they have? How do they choose who gets something and who doesn't? It also looks at the government running this society and how they are failing the people like how our government failed us leading to this post-apocalyptic society," I answered him. He looked at me like I had three heads.

"Well it sounds like a good book," he said leaning closer to me.

Why on earth was he flirting with me? I tried everything to get him to leave me alone.

"We have a basketball game tonight, which I will be leading in of course," he said slyly leaning even closer, which made me super uncomfortable, so I leaned away and he chuckled at me, "So, I will be seeing you there, right?"

"I'll see," I said, "I have so much stuff to do to catch up with school work. Plus, I have to help my dad unpack so, maybe next time."

I heard Adam chuckle sitting next to me. I don't think that Greyson heard him or her just pretended that he didn't.

"I will see you there tonight, I'll pick you up before the game," he said leaving me to walk back over to his other group of friends.

I sighed under my breath. How was I going to get out of this?

"You know, there is a poetry reading tonight at the coffee shop in town," Adam said. I turned over to see him looking at me. His scar was amplified by the shadows on his face.

"Are you going?" I asked.

"Maybe," he said, "But I can tell you that Greyson will not be going,"

I laughed and it made Adam chuckle a little bit. I covered my mouth with my hand.

"Thanks," I said as we both went back to reading.

I looked over at Greyson to see him glaring at me, or was he glaring at Adam?

The bell finally rang and I headed off to the cafeteria. I got a simple sandwich for lunch and a bottle of water. I paid for it and went to an empty table in the corner of the room. To my dismay Greyson followed me.

"Can I sit here?" he asked. I didn't have a chance to answer he just sat his tray down on the table.

"What were you and Adam laughing about?" he asked accusingly.

"Just about the books we liked to read," I said defensively.

He grabbed my wrist on the table and I looked over to him in shock. He pulled it closer to him pulling me out of my chair and closer to him.

"I will see you tonight, I will pick you up before the game," he snarled at me, "forget about Adam."

He let go of my wrist and picked up his tray and walked across the cafeteria. I just sat there in shock. I moved my hand shakily and examined my wrist.

I could see my hand visibly shaking as I turned my hand over to see the other side of my wrist.

"Hey, are you ok?" I heard a voice say. I looked up to see Adam standing over me.

"I'm fine," I said, trying, but failing, to keep my voice steady.

He eyed me suspiciously and began to walk away, "You can sit here if you want," I blurted out.

He turned back around with his typical scowl on his face, but still came over and sat with me.

"This is the first time I have had someone sit at a lunch table with me," I said. Why did I think that this was a good idea? Tell him all kind of personal details about myself, great thinking Thea.

"Me too, well at least here after…" his voice trailed off.

"So, are you going to the poetry reading tonight?" I asked.

"I was thinking about it, I don't have any poetry to read, but it tends to be a fun time," he said opening his sandwich.

"If you don't mind, I think I will go too," I said, I felt stupid inviting myself, but it was a public place where two people could go.

"I will see you there," he said, I think that I saw a half smile from him, but as soon as it was there, it was gone.

"What classes do you have left?" I asked.

"Science and lab, then French and music," he said.

"Me too!" I said, trying not to sound too excited.

"I guess they don't get too creative with new students," he said.

I laughed because it was true. He smiled at his own joke. We finished the rest of our meal mostly in silence, both of us lost in our books. The bell range to symbolize the end of the lunch period and I followed him to our science class. I stood in the front of the room waiting for the teacher to arrive.

"Hi, I'm Thea Ivans, I'm new and in your class," I said to the shorter man. He was a little, but looked mighty. His bald head shone with the fluorescent lighting.

"I'm Mr. Smith," he said, "Everyone has a lab partner except, Adam, so you can be his lab partner."

"I'll change partners, Mr. Smith!" Greyson said, "Lucas can work with Adam."

"No, it is best to just have Miss. Ivans here join Adam, plus we are in the middle of an experiment."

I walked back to the last table in the room and sat down with Adam. When I settled in I looked toward the front of the classroom to see Greyson glaring at me. I knew he was upset about me not standing up for him and not fighting to be his lab partner. I honestly felt bad for Lucas. I could tell he worshiped Greyson, but he didn't even give him the time of day if it was not convenient for him.

"Adam, can you fill Thea in on what we are doing?" he said as he began walking around the room checking on the other lab partners.

"Well we are examining the fruit flies to see their genes. I don't really know how else to explain this. They should have red eyes, but some of them have white eyes and we are trying to see if these are passed on the sex chromosomes or on another chromosome," he did his best at explaining.

"Oh, ok," I said, still a little confused.

He had me check off if they had red or white eyes. He explained the process to me and was very patient with me. I was surprised and found myself looking at him when he was trying to explain something. Mr. Smith came back to check on us, and Adam explained everything that we were doing in amazing detail.

"Good job, Adam," Mr. Smith said to Adam, "He is very good at this, that is part of the reason I wanted to put you as his lab partner, but I will deny if you ever tell someone I said that."

We both smiled. We worked until the bell rang, and we were allowed a break before we started with the second half of science. I stood up and stretched.

"Thanks for helping me out," I said to Adam, "science is not one of my strong suits."

"You're welcome," he said, "I find this all really fascinating, so if you need someone to study with, I will help you."

"New girl," Greyson said before I could respond to Adam, but I didn't let that deter me.

"Yeah, Adam that would be great! Maybe during study period, you could help me out with all of this," I said to him.

"Hey," Greyson said grabbing me by the shoulder turning me to face him, "I was talking to you!" he said angrily.

"I was talking to Adam," I said back trying to free my shoulder from his grip, but he was too strong.

"Let go of her," Adam said. I looked over at him, his face was twisted into an even deeper scowl.

"What did you say?" Greyson said digging his hands into my shoulder even harder. I flinched, but I tried to hide it from everyone who was now looking at us.

"Is there a problem back here?" Mr. Smith asked.

"No sir," Greyson said, finally releasing me from his grip.

"Good, go back to your seat, Greyson," he said.

I walked back behind the table and sat back in my seat.

"Are you ok?" Adam asked, his face looked worried.

"I'm fine," I said shakily.

"You are not ok," he said his voice rising slightly, "How could he do that to you?"

"It's ok, I am fine really," I said reassuringly, but my voice was still a little shaky. I absentmindedly ran my hand over my shoulder. I remembered my wrist and pulled the sleeve down slightly, hoping to not distract Adam who was taking care of the fruit flies. I could see the beginnings of a bruise starting to form.

"What's that?" he asked. I looked down, I couldn't look at his face.

"Nothing," I said pulling my sleeve over my wrist again. He gently reached for my hand and pulled the sleeve up.

"Did he do this to you?" he asked, his voice shaking in anger.

"No," I lied.

"Thea," he said gently. I looked over at him finally. This was the first time he said my name, and I felt my heart clench a little. It was only because I am embarrassed I reassured myself.

"It's fine," I said, "Tell me more about the fruit flies."

He reluctantly started telling me more about the flies and how all of that worked.

I focused on the work for the rest of the day and followed Adam to French, which luckily Greyson was not going to.

French was fine and I had never really taken French before, and apparently, neither had Adam.

We muddled through our pronunciations and laughed at how terrible we both were.

We walked to music together and laughed about how terrible we both were at French, but when we walked into our final class for the day, I stopped seeing Greyson in the class.

"Let's sit over here," Adam said, showing me a pair of empty seats on the other side of the classroom.

"New girl!" yelled Greyson over the entire class, "I saved you a seat so you don't have to sit with that Beast!"

The entire class went silent, but started laughing.

"He does look like a beast," I heard some of them whispering.

"Have you seen a more hideous scar?" others said.

I looked at Adam. I expected him to look mad or furious, but he looked defeated.

"I think that I will stay here," I said to Greyson and got comfortable in my seat.

Before anyone had time to respond the bell rang and our teacher came out. She looked to be older than dirt and she wore a hearing aide. She waddled to the front of the room and sat down at the piano. She played a few pieces on the piano. I got up the courage to look back over at Adam. I was sitting on his scar side, but I could see the tears pooling in his eyes. I wanted desperately to console him, but I didn't know what to do.

When the final bell rang, Adam ran out of the room. I didn't get to even ask him about the poetry reading tonight.

I packed up my bags and began walking to the door. Our teacher had gone into the office and she was obviously engrossed in whatever she was doing. I walked toward the door and when I went to pull it open I saw a large hand stop me.

I veered around to see Greyson standing behind me.

"Hi," I said turning back around trying to open the door, we were the only two left in the classroom.

"Come on new girl, do you really want to hang out with that beast?" he spat "No, so why don't you give your attention to someone else, like me."

"I am just trying to get my bearings about this place, and Adam knows what it is like to be a new student so, I am just going to stick with him for a while," I said frantically.

"Really?" he said rising his voice.

"Please, can we talk tomorrow, my dad is waiting for me," I said, desperately trying to get away.

"I will talk to you tonight before the basketball game," he said getting close to my face. I backed up and felt the door behind me. He got close enough that I could feel has breath on my face.

"What are you two still doing here?" our teacher said angrily.

"My bad, we were just leaving," Greyson said, charming his way out of a situation.

He opened the door and let me out. I quickly tried to get away. I ran into a group of students and walked around them looking back to make sure he wasn't following me. I didn't see him, I started to walk a little slower. I went up the stairs to get my jacket and hat out of my locker.

I quickly put them on and threw the books I didn't need into the locker. I ran down the stairs and went out the door that I came in in the morning. This was one of the longest days of my life. I ran to the doors and walked out, I didn't want my dad to be worried about me.

I saw the blue car standing out in the crowd of cars. I smiled when I saw my dad's face. I walked quickly to the car. I opened the passenger's side door and climbed in as I took off my backpack.

"How did it go?" my dad asked.

"Fine," I said, looking down at my backpack. How was I going to tell him about my day?

"Did something happen?" he asked.

"No, it was just a long day and tiring, but there is a poetry reading tonight in town, you know at that coffee shop? I would like to go," I said.

"Something did happen," he said, looking over at me.

"No, it was one of the kids in my English class, he mentioned it," I said.

"Some boy?" he asked.

"Dad!" I said embarrassedly.

"Ok, but when do I get to meet him?"

"Dad! I don't even think that we are friends. We just had to talk in class you know?" I said.

"Alright, you can go, but I have to stay at home to get some more work done," he said, "What time does it start?"

"Umm…" I realized that Adam didn't tell me when it started, but I knew that the game started at seven so I would need to be out of the house by 5:30.

"I think around 5:30," I said.

"That seems a little early?" he said.

"Yeah, I want to make sure I get to the right place," I said back.

"Ok, well, just get some homework done first," he said.

"Will do," I answered I realized that we were just about home. A few minutes later we pulled into the driveway. I hurried inside and started reading 1984. I didn't have any desire to do my other homework just yet. I read what I had to and moved onto math and history.

It was around 5:15 when my dad knocked on my door, "Hey, sweetie, you had better get going!"

"Oh yeah," I said. I packed up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder.

"Are you taking your backpack?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, just in case I have some time to get homework," I answered.

"Ok," he said and pulled out his wallet and handed me a $20 bill.

"I don't need that much," I said.

"Take it, keep it so next time I don't have to give you one."

I took the money and kissed him on the cheek.

"I will be back later!" I called running down the stairs. I hoped that I would get out before Greyson showed up. I started down the street and made my way toward the main street in town. The wind was cold, so I wrapped my jacket even tighter around my body, and began to walk faster.

I made it to the coffee shop without seeing Greyson and without contracting frostbite, which I considered a huge success. I unzipped my jacket and order a small sandwich as well as a hot chocolate. I saw that the poetry reading started at 6, so at least I wasn't too early.

I found a table and took my sandwich and hot chocolate with me. I sat down and started trying to figure out what on earth Adam was talking about in class. I pulled out the science book and began reading. It started to make a little bit more sense, but I still found myself extremely confused.

"You came," I heard a voice behind me say. I turned to see Adam standing behind me.

"Yeah, I was not going to the basketball game," I said.

He chuckled, "Do you mind?" he asked motioning to the seat across from me.

"No, please sit," I said.

He sat his sandwich and drink down.

"Science homework?" he said rising his good eyebrow.

"Sadly," I said, looking at the notes that I took that still didn't make any sense to me.

"How about I help you tomorrow during study period. We can work on it together."

"That sounds great," I said closing the book, "So, are you reading anything tonight?" I asked as I put the book back in my backpack.

"No," he said looking down, "I am not a great poet,"

"Me either," I said, "But I love to listen to it."

"Same here," he said. Why couldn't everyone see him the way that I did?

"I'm sorry about what happened today in music," I said to him.

He looked down, "It is ok," he said.

"It is not! How could people be so cruel?" I asked crossing my arms in front of my chest.

"Well, I can take their words, but Greyson is abusing you. You have to say something," he said, there was a concerned hint to his voice.

"No," I said, "I can't. No one would believe me."

"I believe you," he said. I genuinely believed him. I looked into his bright blue eyes. His eyes were almost unnaturally blue, and his shirt just emphasized it.

"There is nothing that I can do to get him to stop, unless I just go out with him," I said sinking down into my chair.

"Don't do that," he said quickly, "I mean, you would be alone with him, which is not something I think would be wise."

Our conversation was cut short by the first poet. All the presenters did an amazing job. I was so impressed by a small towns poetry. After about an hour, the last poet read. We all applauded and gave another round of applause to the poets. I started to get ready to leave, I put on my jacket and slung my backpack over my shoulders.

"Can I walk you home?" Adam asked.

"I would really enjoy that," I said.

We walked outside. I started off toward home. It was getting dark, and I am not going to lie, but I was happy that I had someone to walk with.

"Thanks for inviting me, this was better than the basketball game," I said.

"You're welcome," he said.

"Also, thanks for helping me today, I would totally be a lost cause without you," I said.

"You're welcome, again. And it was my pleasure to help," he answered.

We walked a little ways discussing the poets and our favorites and our interpretations of what we heard.

"This is me," I said pointing at the house, "Was this a ploy to get to know where I live?" I asked sarcastically.

"Maybe," he answered. After a few moments, we both started laughing.

We stood in the driveway awkwardly.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said and started walking up the front steps.

"Thea!" he called after me and came to the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Um… don't forget your science homework tomorrow," he said.

"I won't," I answered and smiled at him. He smiled back at me, and in the fading light it had grown hard to see his scar.

"See you tomorrow!" he called.

"Bye!" I said.

I walked up to the front door and opened it. I saw my father sitting in the front room with boxes surrounding him.

"How did it go?" he asked, looking up at me. He took off his black wire frame glasses and set them on the end table.

"It was great," I said.

"Someone named Greyson was looking for you," he said turning his attention back to the boxes. I felt the color leave my face. How did he know where I lived, but didn't know my name?

"Oh?" I said, trying to pretend that I didn't know what he was talking about.

"He said you were to go to the basketball game tonight," my father said suspiciously.

"Really?" I answered.

"Yeah, I told him you had left and gone to the poetry reading with another friend."

"Really?" I asked.

"He seemed understanding, not to mention he was pretty easy on the eyes," my father said with an implication in his voice.

"I don't think that I am really into him, dad," I said.

"I figured, I also thought it was strange that you would be going to the basketball game. The poetry reading seemed much more like you."

I smiled.

"Well, I am going to go upstairs and read a little," I said heading for the stairs.

"Ok, I'll be here if you need anything," he was already going through the next box.

I walked up the stairs. I can't believe that Greyson came all the way over to my house tonight. What is he going to do tomorrow at school? Why did my dad like him? I took a deep breath, and sank into my bed, pretty much the only thing that was together in my room. I tried to get back into my book, but I tossed it aside when all the thoughts about Greyson crept back into my head. I forsake my task and decided to take a shower instead. I turned on the hot water and undressed. I climbed in and the shower felt amazing. I decided to push Greyson out of my head and think about the poetry that I heard tonight. I thought of a few poems that stood out, but I thought mostly of Adam. The way he looked intently at the poets, the offer to walk me home and calling out to me when I was on the stairs. I smiled, but then quickly decided that there was no way that I could have any of these feelings for him already.

I wished I had his phone number. I was nervous about going back to school, I wanted to get his opinion on what I should do about Greyson. I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. I dried myself and changed for bed. I brushed my teeth and hair and headed back into my bedroom. I started to read again. I felt better after thinking a little about Adam. I read for a while, but when I couldn't stay awake I gave up and fell onto my pillow asleep.

"Sweetie, it is time to get up!" I heard my father saying in the morning. I picked out another plain long sleeve t-shirt and another pair of jeans. I quickly brushed and styled my hair, brushed my teeth and did my makeup. I changed my clothes and slipped into my boots and headed downstairs.

"Gave up cooking so quickly?" I asked my dad when I came down to just the smell of coffee.

"I think that was my first and only attempt, remind me never to cook again," he said. I laughed and I assured him I would keep that promise.

"Are you ready for day two?" he asked as I filled a cup with orange juice.

"I don't think I really have a choice, do I?" I asked taking a sip from the plastic cup.

"No, I guess you are right," he said back, "Well, I guess now is a good time to go then?"

"Yep," I said slipping into my jacket and putting my gray hat on my head. I flung my backpack on my shoulder and followed my father out of the house. We got into the car and we briefly talked about the poetry I heard last night, I explained the ones I liked and the ones I didn't like as much. We finally made it to school, he pulled up to let me off.

"Alright, I will see you after school, sweetie," he said.

"I love you," I said back.

"Love you, too," he said and I slammed the car door and watched him drive off. I longed to go back with him.

I honestly didn't know if I was going to be ok after today, the only good thing was there were a lot of people around. I took a deep breath and walked into the school. I went upstairs to my locker and put my coat and hat in the locker and grabbed the books I needed. I started walking to my first class when I saw him, his black hair coming toward me. I was close to my first class and I ducked inside.

"What are you doing?" I heard a gruff voice say behind me.

"Adam!" I said letting out a sigh of relief.

"What is going on?" he eyed me suspiciously.

"Greyson came to my house last night before the game and talked to my dad," I said breathlessly.

"What?"

"Yeah, he was at my house last night, wooing my dad. My dad actually likes him! I am afraid to see him today," I admitted.

"Stick with me, we have the same schedule, I will try my best to help you. Did you tell your dad what is going on?" he asked.

"No. I can't it is too embarrassing," I paused for a moment, "Thank you for all of your help," I said grabbing his hand and squeezing it.

"Hey, Beast, what's up?" I heard one of the boys in my class say.

I heard something resembling a growl escape his lips.

"Who poked the bear?" someone else said. By now our class was laughing hysterically. I saw firsthand the affect that Greyson had on this school.

"Don't listen to them," I said frantically.

"Why does it matter?" Adam asked, his eyes pleading with me, "They are right, I look hideous."

I opened my mouth to say something, but Mrs. Stevens came in and directed all of us to our seats. I looked back at Adam, his head was done, I wanted nothing more than to console him. When he looked up I gave him a hopeful smile and he did a half smile back to me.

"Why are you talking to him?" I heard Sammie ask me.

"He is a nice guy," I answered her flatly.

She just rolled her eyes and went back to working on the problems we were given. I started to care less about what everyone else thought, and I cared mostly about what Adam was thinking. How could I have such a connection to someone who I met yesterday? I looked back to see him frantically copying down the problems. I had a hard time concentrating on calculus and history for that matter.

I started looking forward to English the most. I sat down and watched the clock move, as it seemed, backwards. When the bell finally rang I followed Adam to the classroom. We chatted about the poetry last night and how we wished to present some work the next time, even though we were both terrible poets.

We finally arrived at Mr. Henry's class.

"I don't want you two to go at each other's throats again today," Mr. Henry said looking at both of us. I chuckled and Adam scoffed. I think we are passed this, I thought to myself. We picked our seats in the back of the room.

We discussed the themes of the book again, and Adam and I both put in some input to the conversation. I caught him looking at me a few times, to which he pretended he wasn't. I smiled to myself and laughed under my breath. The class was my favorite, but it seemed to go so fast.

I looked at him when the bell rang. I didn't want to go to study period, but I still needed help with my science homework.

"Thank you two for being civil today," Mr. Henry said as we left the classroom.

"Anything for you Mr. Henry," Adam called back as we were leaving.

"It will be ok," Adam said to me, "I won't let him hurt you."

I took a deep breath and walked to the study period room. Luckily, kind of, Greyson was already there, so we knew where to sit to be the furthest distance away from him.

"Get out your science book," Adam told me quietly, "Let's start working as soon as we can."

I did as he said, I hoped that this would deter Greyson from coming over, at least for a few minutes. We started working on the charts and different calculations, and Greyson had not bothered us yet. I was too afraid to look in his direction. I was just trying to focus on what Adam was saying. It was going well until the teacher announced that he had to leave for only a few minutes to take something down to the office. I looked over to Adam trying to show him my fear.

"It will be ok, Thea," he said. I took a deep breath and nodded.

We started another set of calculations when I heard the teacher open the door. It closed slowly, but when I heard the door latch I knew it would be open season.

"New girl!" Greyson shouted.

I just closed my eyes, trying my best to control my fear.

"New girl!" he shouted again.

I heard footsteps coming closer.

"What is your problem?!" he yelled, yanking me from my seat. I gasped.

"Hey," I heard Adam say. I looked over to see him standing.

"Back off, Beast, this doesn't concern you," Greyson spat at him.

Adam took a step closer and Greyson squeezed me even harder, I cried out in pain. I didn't mean to, it was partly shock and partly pain and still another part embarrassment. The class around us sat in dead silence.

"Back off, Beast, I don't want to have to warn you again," he sneered at Adam.

"Greyson, just put her down," Adam snarled.

Just then the door opened and the teacher came back, apparently oblivious to what was happening in his classroom.

"I will get you alone," Greyson whispered in my ear, I felt a shudder pass through my body. He chuckled and as he looked me up and down. Finally, he let go of my arm and walked across the room to his seat.

"What did he say to you?" Adam asked sternly.

"He said…" I said through tears, "He said, he will get me alone."

"I will hunt that little…." Adam started hotly, but he couldn't finish. He just looked at me, his face was a mixture of anger and sadness, which only made me tear up more.

"Thea," he said gently, and took my hand, "I will make sure he doesn't hurt you."

I strangely believed him, how could I trust someone who I had just met?

"Thanks," I said, "You have been the best friend I have ever had."

He smiled and offered me a handkerchief, which I gladly accepted.

"Let's get back to work," I said. He looked at me a few times while we were working, I am assuming to make sure I was still ok. We finished out homework with a few minutes to spare, and talked until the bell rang, discussing our favorite books and why we loved them.

The bell rang and I flung my backpack over my shoulder. Adam motioned for me to go ahead of him. I began walking to the front of the room to go out the door when Greyson stepped in front of us. Adam tried to step in front of me, but it was too late.

"Why don't you walk to lunch with me?" he asked glaring down at me.

"I need to stop at my locker first," I lied.

"Hmm…" he said and turned out of the classroom, he stopped and turned around, "I'll walk with you."

"No that's ok, I can go by myself," I said, immediately regretting my choice of words.

"Alright, I will see you in the cafeteria," he said, turning around walking in the direction of the cafeteria.

"He would never give up that easily," I said turning to Adam.

"I know," he answered me, "Do you need to go to your locker?"

"Nope," I said and stared off toward the cafeteria.


	3. Chapter 3

We walked into the cafeteria and went to the sandwich area, and I hadn't seen Greyson. We both picked up sandwiches and bottles of water and paid for our lunch.

We found a table near an exit, if I needed it. We started eating, discussing the poetry from last night. It was relaxing, I forgot for a moment about Greyson, but then I finally saw him walking into the cafeteria. He had gone to my locker to find me. I tensed up when I saw him walk in. Adam stopped talking and looked in his direction. Greyson was searching the cafeteria, I am sure he was looking for me. I mistakenly made eye contact with him. He glared at me and started at our table.

"I waited for you at your locker," he snarled.

"I decided I didn't need to go," I said back.

He just glared at me, looking from me to Adam. He took a step closer, and Adam stood up immediately. Greyson stopped and looked at Adam taking a step back.

"You won't have your guard dog forever!" he yelled and stomped to another table.

Adam sat down slowly. We sat in silence for a few moments as my heartrate was returning to normal.

"Why is he so interested in me?" I asked Adam.

"Because you are the most beautiful girl in school. He is interested in only looks," Adam answered simply.

I was taken aback by what he said.

"What?" I asked.

"I think that you heard me," Adam said, but he wouldn't look at me. I thought that I might have seen him blushing.

"Is that true?" I asked again.

"Yes, he wants you on his arm to brag to everyone else in school that he can get the prettiest girls," Adam said slowly, still not looking at me.

"Ha," I said. I was completely caught off guard by his answer. I did not think I was extremely beautiful or even pretty. I was never thought of that way before. It made the rest of lunch a little awkward. I don't think that Adam was planning on telling me in that way.

The bell rang and we walked off to the rest of our classes. Science, French and music were all pretty uneventful, Adam and I still hadn't talked about what he had said at lunch. The day ended and Adam walked me to my locker, lucky for me his locker was only a few down from mine. I quickly put on my jacket and hat, and swapped the books that I didn't need for my homework.

Adam met me at my locker and walked me out of the building.

"I have to catch the bus," he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the bus.

"Ok," I said, "Thanks for everything, I know I am totally messing everything up for you."

"Not at all, I didn't really have much to do before, so it at least keeps my day slightly eventful," he smiled.

"Well, I will see you tomorrow," I said.

"See ya tomorrow," he answered and started to walk towards his bus. I hurried to my dad's car and kept an open eye for Greyson. I thankfully reached the car without incident. I pulled the car door open and slid in quickly.

"Who was that boy you were talking to?" my father immediately asked.

"Dad, he is just a friend. He is the one helping me with my science homework," I said.

"What happened to his face?" he asked. I was surprised by my father. I honestly hadn't even noticed his since yesterday.

"He was in a car accident, at least that is what I hear," I said.

"He didn't tell you?" he asked.

"No, and it is not really something that comes up in conversation too much," I answered defensively.

"What about that Greyson kid? He seems nice," my dad asked again.

"I really don't want to talk about Greyson," I said. How could I tell him what was going on? He would probably just tell me I was making it all up because he knows I don't really like him. I decided it was best to not tell him.

We sat in silence for the rest of the way home. When we pulled into the driveway, there was a box sitting on the front porch. It was a small box, but still. I walked up the stairs to the front porch. I picked up the small box, and it was addressed to me.

I pulled out my key and opened it. There was a note inside:

Thea,

I hope you love this book as much as I do.

Maybe it will inspire us to write our own poetry.

Adam

I pushed aside the wrapping, it was a book of Shakespeare's poems. I smiled to myself reading the note again.

"You have yourself an admirer," my father said reading the note over my shoulder.

"Adam? Is that the boy you were talking to?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, trying to play it off cool.

"Do you like this boy?" my dad asked awkwardly.

"Dad!" I said, "I swear we are just friends."

"Ok, you know I am no good at this stuff," he said unlocking the door.

I carried the book inside. I took off my hat and jacket and hung them up by the door.

"I'm going to go upstairs and work on homework," I said to my dad.

"Ok, how does pizza sound tonight?" he asked.

"Only if we can get pepperoni on it," I said back.

He scoffed, "I think I can make that work."

I walked upstairs and began working on my homework.

The next day at school, I searched out Adam first thing in the morning. I found him by his locker.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he said back, putting his books in his locker, "What's up? Did something happen?"

"No," I chuckled, "No, I just wanted to thank you for the book, that was really thoughtful."

"Oh, yeah. You're welcome. Maybe we can draw some inspiration from Shakespeare for our own poems."

I laughed, and he at least chuckled.

The next couple weeks of school were pretty uneventful. Greyson had let up a little bit since the boys' basketball team was on a winning streak and prime favorites for the championships. I also think that he was slightly afraid of Adam, so the combination made life at school much easier for me. It didn't make life at school easier for Adam though. He was now almost exclusively called "Beast", by everyone in the school. My efforts to make them stop, only made things worse, so I stopped trying. I could tell that it hurt Adam, but I had no way of making it any better.

We had made it through about half of February without incident, and things were actually looking up. Adam and I were becoming closer and I was enjoying his company more and more. Which brings us to Valentine's Day.

I came into school, like every other day, but I didn't see Adam at his locker that morning, which was odd. We typically met at his locker in the morning and then walked to calculus. I put my books away and was ready to walk to calculus by myself when I turned around to see Adam.

"Adam!" I said. I was worried that maybe he wasn't coming to school today.

"Hey," he said nervously. I was just about to ask what was going on when I realized his right hand was behind his back.

"I got this for you," he said bringing his arm around to the front holding a beautiful red rose. He extended his arm handing the rose to me.

"It's beautiful!" I exclaimed. His face relaxed and he looked a little less nervous.

"Thank you," I said, "I am sorry to say that I didn't get anything for you." It made me feel embarrassed that he had thought about me, but I didn't think to get anything for him.

"It is ok, just thanks for not making fun of me," he said.

"I can do that," I said back, smiling. I carried the rose with me to class, and sat it on the edge of my desk.

"Did Greyson get that for you?" asked Sammie, with a hint of curiosity.

"No, Adam did," I replied in a matter of fact manner.

"Oh," she said. I knew that she thought there was no way that he was capable of anything.

I smiled at the rose and worked on my calculus. I knew that people would talk, I mean they talked about everything. I carried the rose with me all day. I didn't care if people talked, let them talk. I had Adam as my friend and I didn't need anyone else.

I carried the rose out to the car at the end of the day.

"Who is that from?" my father asked as soon as I got in the car.

"Adam," I said simply, but trying not to smile.

"You are pretty close with him," he said.

"Yeah," I said back.

"Do you…" my father asked.

"No, dad. I promise we are still just friends. He was being polite getting me a flower for Valentine's Day!" I said. I tried to make myself believe that we were just friends, but part of me wanted more.

"Alright," my father said, obviously not believing a word I was saying.


	4. Chapter 4

We made it a few more weeks, but after the basketball team won the championship, the players were all treated like gods at the school. They got praise from the other students, teachers and administrators. They could do no wrong, and Greyson had made me the target of his attention again. I made it to around Spring Break, just a politically correct name for Easter Break, in April without too much worry.

I was glad to get a few days off of school and get away from Greyson. Adam and I planned on going to the poetry reading on the Monday we were off. I got ready reading some more of the poetry from the book he bought me. My father and I spent the Easter holiday inside and eating lots of chocolate and eating pizza. It was a great way to spend the holiday.

"Dad," I said watching our tenth episode of the Walking Dead, "I am going to the poetry reading tomorrow with Adam."

"Alright," he said.

My dad still hadn't met Adam, but I think he had come to terms with the two of us being friends. It had been a few months since we met and I just kept insisting that we were both just friends. But things had changed between us. I could feel it, but I think both of us were too afraid to say anything.

Monday came around and I got ready to go out. I tried to keep it casual, but I felt like I should also be dressing up. I had never worn a dress in front of him, and I wasn't sure I should start now. I just threw on a navy blue long sleeve t-shirt and my jacket, since it was still pretty cold out.

"I'll be back later, dad," I said to him.

"Alright, have fun," he said engrossed in his work.

I started toward the coffee shop. I kept looking around, making sure that Greyson wasn't coming for me. His threat still rang in my mind. I picked up my pace and made it to the coffee shop in record time. I ordered my typically sandwich and hot chocolate and waited for Adam to come. I brought the poetry book with me just in case I beat him here. I was enamored by one of the poems when I saw a plate on the other side of the table.

"Hey," Adam said.

"Hey," I said quickly closing the book. He sat down across from me. I just noticed that he had started growing a beard and mustache. The whiskers covered most of his scar, and I thought that he looked even more handsome. I felt my heart skip a beat, and I suddenly felt underdressed.

"Did you prepare anything for tonight?" he asked.

"No," I chuckled, "What about you."

"Maybe," he said slyly.

"Really," I returned the slyness.

"We will see," he said.

The event was just about to start and we moved our chairs to face the stage.

Person after person got up and said their poetry. I was again impressed by the talent in the town. After about a half an hour Adam got up and walked onto the stage.

"Here is a little work in progress I have," he cleared his throat, obviously nervous.

"Beast," he said, my heart constricted:

Beast  
Filled with anger  
Beast  
Scared and mangled  
Beast  
Seen on the outside  
Beast  
Felt on the inside  
Beauty  
As a rose  
Beauty  
Seen every day  
Beauty  
Perfect in every way  
Beauty  
No place with the Beast  
Beast  
Fell in love with Beauty  
Beauty  
Fell in love with Beast  
Words I wish to say  
Words I wish to hear  
It cannot be  
No beauty in the beast  
No beast with a beauty  
It cannot be

I felt tears rise to my eyes. I quickly tried to wipe them away as he walked back to the table.

"That was beautiful," I said.

"Thank you," he replied.

A few more poets presented their work, but I wasn't listening. I was saying Adam's poem over and over again in my head. It was so personal, so raw, so beautiful.

The program ended and we got up to leave. I put my jacket back on and grabbed my book. Adam started walking me to the door.

"Adam," I said gently. What was I going to say to him?

"Yes?" he stopped and looked at me.

"I loved your poem. You were so brave saying something so personal to everyone. I am so impressed."

"Really?" he said, his face twisting into a smile.

"Yes," I said. I didn't know how to bring up the content with him.

"You know Thea, I was thinking," he said running his hand through his hair, I felt my breath hitch in my throat.

"Yes?" I asked breathlessly.

"Maybe, you would like to go to prom with me?" he asked, his blue eyes stared into mine.

"I would love to," I said.

"Great," he said.

"When is prom?" I asked.

"We still have a few weeks," he said, "Typically the end of May."

"I guess I will have to wear a dress, ha?" I asked.

"That is the dress code," he said.

I laughed at his attempted joke.

"Can I walk you home?" he asked.

"That would be great," I smiled.

We talked about the other poets and how we couldn't wait to go back again.

"I hope you write something next time," he said when we reached my house.

"I wouldn't hold your breath," I said back.

He chuckled.

I noticed how close we were and I took a step closer. Our bodies were just about touching.

"Thea," he said quietly. I felt a shiver travel down my spine.

"Yes," I answered, looking up into his blue eyes.

We stood in silence for a moment then he said, "I will see you tomorrow," taking a step back.

"Oh, um yeah, I will see you tomorrow," I replied trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

I started walking toward the house. I walked slowly hoping that I would hear him again. I turned to see him turning to walk away. My heart sank a little, I wasn't sure why I was disappointed. He walked me home and that was all.


	5. Chapter 5

We didn't discuss the poem again, or what had happened outside of my house. It seemed like we both wanted to keep things the way they were. April faded into May and prom season was in full swing. Every day they were advertising something new about the dance. I was glad to know that I was going with Adam. The boys went into a frenzy asking the girls in the class to go with them. One day, Adam was asked to stay behind in science to talk to Mr. Smith about his work. I waited outside the door for him to walk with him to French, but it seemed that Greyson had other ideas.

"Hey new girl," he said to me. Did he still not know my name, or was this some sort of flirting technique that was failing? A question I never got answered.

"Greyson," I said.

"I'll walk you to class," he said, putting his hand on my back urging me forward. I tried to resist, but it wasn't working.

"No, I'm waiting for Adam," I said.

"No, I'm walking you to class," he said practically shoving me down the hallway.

I followed him still trying to resist.

"So, wouldn't you love to be crowned prom queen while standing next to me as the king on stage?" he asked. I didn't answer, I really didn't care about being prom queen.

"So, do you want to go to prom with me new girl?" he asked.

"I already have a date," I said.

He stopped me in the hallway.

"You what?" he yelled. Everyone in the hallway was now staring at us.

"I already have a date," I said.

"The Beast?" he snarled.

"Adam," I said firmly.

"Why are you going with him, when you could go with me?" he asked.

"He asked me first, and I would have gone with him anyway," I said.

He grabbed me by my upper arms and shook me. It seems that the people in the hallway had gone to class, because everyone was gone.

"How could you!" he yelled at me then threw me on the floor. I landed hard, and didn't try to get up, which I regretted when I felt him climbing on top of me. I started to fight, I had to get away, even though we were in the school, I knew he could do anything to me. I clawed at the floor to try to get away from him. He grabbed me by my hips and pulled me toward him. I tried to call out, but I couldn't find my voice. He turned me to look at him, then I saw a figure come behind him and pull him off of me.

I sat up a little to see Adam shove him into the wall.

"Stop it man, this doesn't involve you," Greyson yelled.

"How could you do that to her?" Adam snarled back.

"Look man, just run along and we will settle this," Greyson tried to reason with Adam.

"What is going on here?" asked Mr. Henry in a raised voice.

"Nothing, sir," Greyson said.

"Nothing," he asked, "Adam?"

Adam didn't answer.

"Come to the office, all three of you," he said looking at all of us.

He walked between Adam and Greyson and I followed beside Adam.

"Thea," Mr. Henry said, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," I answered trying so hard not to cry.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I said with my voice cracking.

"You are not fine," he said, "What happened?"

"I would rather not talk about it," I choked out.

"Alright, I want you to talk to Principle Masters as well as the boys," he said.

"Ok," I gasped out, I didn't really have a choice we were already at the office.

Mr. Henry walked us into the office.

"Mrs. Potter?" he asked.

"Yes?" she asked.

"These three need to see Principal Masters," he said briefly.

"Alright, dear let me go get him," she got up and waddled back to the principal's office. I started to cry more when I saw Principal Masters walking toward us.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked the two boys and then went to Mr. Henry.

"Sir, I found these two having a heated argument in the hallway, and Miss. Ivans here was on the floor near them."

"Miss. Ivans, I would like to speak with you first," Principal Masters said, "I will speak to each of you in a minute. Mrs. Potter? Can you make sure these two stay far away from each other?"

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Miss. Ivans, follow me," Principal Masters said leading me back to his office. He motioned for me to sit down across from him, like on the first day I was here. He pushed the tissue box on his desk close to me, and I gratefully took one.

"What happened in the hallway?" he asked.

"I would prefer not to talk about it," I sobbed.

"I need to know what happened," he said.

"I… I… I… really would not like to talk about it," I choked out again.

"Please, if you do not tell me, the boys will," he said.

"I had a disagreement with Greyson, and Adam was just trying to protect me," I said, my tears were coming less now.

"Protect you?" he asked.

I took another tissue to stall a little. I wiped my face with the tissue, "Um, I meant help me."

"You said 'protect'," he said.

"I didn't mean it," I said, playing with the tissues in my lap, not looking at him.

"What are you not telling me?" he asked.

I bit my lip, I felt terrible lying to him.

"Greyson has threatened me a few times," I finally mumbled to my lap.

"He threatened you?" the principal asked.

"Yes, he has a few times," I said back.

"When?"

"The first day I was here was the first time, and before spring break, and today," I said, pulling apart the tissues in my lap.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I don't know," I answered.

"Maybe because it isn't true?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, it is true," I said defensively.

"Come on, how can you prove it?" he asked.

"Maybe this is why I didn't tell anyone. I figured they couldn't believe that the captain of the football and basketball team is capable of this," I glared at him.

"Miss. Ivans," he started.

"Or maybe I was afraid of what would happen if I did tell someone," I shot back.

"Miss. Ivans, please," he said, "Stay here while I talk to the other boys."

He dismissed me. I walked back to the front of the office to see the boys sitting on opposite sides of the room. Adam was still fuming, Greyson had a smug look on his face.

"So, how did it go?" Greyson called to me, and I shuddered. I could see his face full of hatred looking down on me. I felt so defenseless. What would have happened if Adam wasn't there? I shuddered at the thought.

"Greyson!" called principal Masters from his office.

"I'll be right back there, sir!" he called back, and winked at me.

I sat down next to Adam. I wrapped my arms around my body. The idea of him touching me, of pulling him closer to me.

"Thea," Adam said, reaching his hand toward me, which I instinctively jerked away. He clenched his fist and dropped his hand.

"I'm sorry," I said, shaking again.

"No, that was stupid," he said.

"No, it wasn't," I said. I knew what he was trying to do, but I didn't want to be touched. Not now.

"I should have been there. I should have been able to help you," he said shaking his head.

"This isn't your fault," I said, but then I realized that Mrs. Potter was looking at us, so I lowered my voice, "It is only his fault."

"I promised to protect you, and I wasn't there when you needed it the most," he said.

"Don't think that way," I said, "You helped me. If you hadn't come…" my voice trailed off. I couldn't admit to him, or even to myself, what would have happened if he didn't come when he did.

"Thea, I…" he started, but I heard Principal Masters open his office door. We both turned to look. Greyson came out of the room joking and laughing with Principal Masters. My heart immediately sank. He walked closer to us and said, "Alright, Beast, it's your turn."

Adam stood up and walked toward Greyson. I saw a flicker of fear go across Greyson's face, but Adam side stepped him and went back to talk to Principal Masters.

Greyson came and plopped down next to me. I moved uncomfortably to the edge of my seat away from him.

"Young man," I heard Mrs. Potter say.

"Yes?" he asked in his charming voice.

"Can you go back to your seat over there," she asked sweetly.

I saw Greyson's smile falter, "But I am comfortable here," he said, moving back in his seat.

"But she is not, and it would be the gentleman thing to do to move over there," Mrs. Potter said matter of factly. I smiled slightly to myself when I saw Greyson get up and move. I looked over to Mrs. Potter nodding in thanks to her. She nodded back slightly. I was glad to know that someone had seen what happened. My heart was beating quickly. What was Adam saying? Should I have said more? What was going to happen next?

"New girl," Greyson said from his new seat.

"Don't talk to her," Mrs. Potter said not even looking away from the computer screen.

I smiled a little to myself again and looked over to Greyson. He was in shock that someone else in the school wasn't giving him what he wanted. We waited a few more minutes, and then I heard the door open.

"Greyson, Thea!" I heard Principal Masters say.

I got up to walk back to the office, but when I passed Greyson he grabbed my forearm and I tried to jerk away, but he pulled me closer.

"I told you I would get you alone," he whispered in my ear.

"Stop that," Mrs. Potter said sternly.

"Sorry, ma'am," Greyson said, he looked me in the eye and dropped my arm. I walked quickly back to the office.

We both walked in. Adam wouldn't look at either of us. I could see him gripping the arms of the chair so hard that his knuckles where turning white.

"Well, I have heard some pretty interesting stories today," Principal Masters said, "I have no evidence that any of them are correct. I will be notifying all of your parents and you two," he pointed at the boys, "You two, no more arguments in the halls. I have nothing else to say on this matter, get back to class."

I stood there stunned. Greyson attacked me and he got no punishment?

"Thank you, sir," Greyson said, he made eye contact with me and touched my leg as he walked by. I tried to suppress the shudder, but it didn't work.

Adam stood up and went to go after Greyson again, but I put my hand on his chest.

"Did you see that?" Adam yelled at Principal Masters.

"See what?" he asked back, "And is that how you should talk to me?"

Adam scoffed loudly.

"It was an accident. There is no way to prove that he meant it," Principal Masters said, "Get out of my office, both of you."

Adam stomped out of the room and I scurried after him.

"Adam," I said, but he kept walking away.

"Adam!" I said again, but this time I said it louder.

"Adam!" I practically yelled, and this time he finally stopped, he had one hand on the office door.

"What?" he asked breathlessly.

I could see that all the people in the office were looking at us.

"Please, say something to me," I begged walking quickly toward him.

"What do you want me to say? How I couldn't protect you? How Greyson gets away with everything? How even now, I can't do anything to protect you? What do you want me to say?" he was yelling, but tears were streaming down his face.

"I don't know," I yelled back, tears now streaming down my face, "How you are my only friend here? What about how you believe me with all of this? Or how you were there to save me from him. If you didn't get there…" I broke off and just broke down into tears. I put my face in my hands and just sobbed.

"Thea," I heard him say gently, putting his arms around me, allowing me to cry into his chest.

"What is the meaning of all of this yelling?" Principal Masters came out into the front of the office, he must have seen the two of us. Me crying into Adam's chest, Adam holding me.

"Go to class you two," he snarled.

I pulled my head away from Adam's chest and looked up at him. The tears in my eyes prevented me from seeing him clearly.

I heard Principal Masters stomp back into his office.

"Here," Mrs. Potter said to us, standing next to us with a box of tissues.

"Thanks," we both said and each took one.

"There is only a few more minutes until ninth period if you want to stay her for a few more minutes," she said sweetly to us.

"Thank you," I said again.

"If it is any consolation, I believe you," she said, "You cannot fake how afraid you are of Greyson."

I nodded to her.

"And you," she said focusing her attention onto Adam, "You keep doing what you are doing, keep her safe."

"I will," Adam said.

She went back to her work, and I realized I was still wrapped in Adam's arms. I tried to get out of it without making it awkward. He helped me to a seat in the front of the office.

"Do you think we can skip music? I think we should talk to Mr. Henry if he doesn't have class," I asked Adam.

"I think that we can," he said, "I honestly don't think she will notice that we are not there."

I smiled. We just sat in the office, I listened to the sound of Mrs. Potter and the other staff member typing. Every so often I would see one looking at us. The bell finally rang a couple of minutes later. I nodded at Mrs. Potter as a thank you for letting us sit in the office for those few minutes, and I swear that I saw her nod back.

"Let's find Mr. Henry," Adam said. I nodded in response. He lead me out of the office. I placed my hands on the bottom straps of my backpack. I looked at the people passing us, and I could tell they knew where we had just been. I kept my head down and tried not to look at them.


	6. Chapter 6

We walked back toward our English room, and we found Mr. Henry at his desk. Adam knocked on the door. Mr. Henry looked up at us.

"I was wondering when I was going to see you two again," he said closing his copy of 1984 and placing it on his desk, "come in and shut the door behind you."

We walked into the room and Adam turned and shut the door. Mr. Henry pulled his desk chair to the center of the room and had us sit in the front two desks.

"First, what class do you both have?" Mr. Henry asked.

"Music," I said and Adam nodded in agreement.

"Alright, next question. What happened this afternoon?" he asked.

I looked over to Adam and then back at Mr. Henry, "Where should I begin?"

"How about the beginning," Mr. Henry said.

I took a deep breath, "When I first got here Greyson took an interest in me. He harassed me, but it wasn't too bad until science class the first day I was here. He threatened me. I am not comfortable telling you what he said, but he threatened me a few times between then and today." I took another deep breath. Admitting what happened was hard, but also it felt like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

"I was waiting for Adam outside of our room after science when Greyson force me to walk with him. We got into a disagreement and he threw me on the floor," I said beginning to tear up, "I, um, tried to get away from him, but he pulled me back, and he was about to hurt me, when Adam stepped in."

"I see," Mr. Henry said, "Thea, are you ok?"

"I am fine," I said, smiling a little bit, "Just a little shaken up."

"What happened at the office?" Mr. Henry asked.

"We were called into Principal Masters' office," Adam said, "Thea went first then, Greyson, then me."

"What did he talk to you about?" he asked, "Thea, would you mind telling me?"

"He asked me what happened. I didn't want to tell him at first, but I finally gave in. I told him about the threats from Greyson, and he didn't believe me. He told me that he thought I made it all up," I said, looking at my hands. It was hard to admit what happened.

"He didn't believe you?" Adam asked.

"No," I said, I felt ashamed.

"Adam," Mr. Henry said, "What did he talk to you about?"

"He asked me why I attacked a perfectly good student. I told him that I was helping a friend since when I got there, Greyson was on top of Thea," he stopped and swallowed hard, "He said that Greyson told him he was trying to help Thea up since she fell, and that I had a vendetta out against him. I told him I saw that Thea was trying to get away from Greyson and that he had pulled her closer to him and was holding her down. So, I picked him up and threw him against the wall so he would be away from Thea. He asked if Thea was screaming or asking Greyson to stop and I said no, but she was clawing and trying to get away, so I knew that she needed help. He told me that I probably over reacted and we made up the story so that we could get Greyson in trouble. I assured him that Greyson's intentions with Thea were not to help her up, but he could have hurt her more. He dismissed our claims. None of us got in trouble, but they are calling our parents, and that was pretty much it."

"Anything else?" Mr. Henry asked.

"When we were leaving the office, Greyson touched Thea's leg. Principal Masters dismissed it, and said he didn't mean to touch her like that, but he totally did. He made eye contact with her and everything."

"Alright, anything else?" Mr. Henry asked again. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

Mr. Henry spoke again, "I believe both of you, why did you come and talk to me?"

"I needed to tell someone the truth, and someone who would believe us," I said.

"Well, I believe you. There is nothing that I can do, but if you want to spend your study period in here, even if you are not going to work on English work, I will let you. What are you planning on doing?" he asked.

"Thank you, and we will probably take you up on that offer, I think that we are just going to hope that there are no more instances by the end of the year," Adam said.

"There is no way that we will ever be able to make Principal Masters believe us. I don't think even if he saw it happen that he would believe us. I think that I am just going to stick with Adam and hope for the best. There is nothing else we can do," I said feeling defeated.

"I see," Mr. Henry said, "I wish that I could help out more, but if you need anything come and find me. Thank you for telling me what happened. I will let your other teachers know, and know what really happened before Greyson gets to them. You are welcome to stay here until the end of the day. I am going to go find your other teachers."

He got up and walked out of the room. The idea that we really couldn't do anything else began setting in. At least we only had a few weeks left.

"So, what are you wearing to the prom?" Adam asked.

"You want to talk about prom at a time like this?" I asked shocked.

"There isn't really anything else to talk about," he shrugged.

"I don't know yet, I haven't had a chance to look!" I said laughing.

"Well I only have one suit, so sorry in advance if it doesn't match perfectly" he said.

"I really don't care how well we match," I said.

"Ok, it will be a surprise," he said.

"I guess the dress will be a surprise then too," I said.

We talked for a few more minutes about the prom and other things. I could see that he was trying to get my mind off the incident. A few minutes before the end of the day Mr. Henry came back into the room.

"I talked to your teachers so they are aware. I am going to let you go out now so you can hopefully avoid him in the hallways," Mr. Henry said.

We walked to the door way and thanked him for everything. We strolled down the hallway and he lead me to my locker. I opened my locker, and put everything in there that I didn't need. I looked down at him and I saw him fumbling with his books, and just throwing them in his locker. I shut mine and locked it. He was walking back to my locker when the bell rang.

When he reached me he said, "We should probably go before too many people come."

"Yeah," I said absentmindedly.

We walked down the stairs and out the front door. I walked with him to bus 509, which was his bus.

"Will you be ok?" he asked, "I can walk you to your father's car."

"I will be ok, I don't my dad to get suspicious," I said back.

"Alright, go prom dress shopping," he said as he turned to get on his bus. I just laughed.

"I'll see you later!" I called.

"See ya!" he called back.

I began walking to the car and I saw Greyson coming out of the school. I picked up my pace and made it to the car without another incident.

"Hey," I said getting into the car.

"Hey," my father said sternly, I looked over at him his blue eyes filled with anger.

"What's wrong?" I asked, which was futile because I knew what he was going to say.

"Why did I get a call from the principal's office today?" he asked sternly.

"I was involved in a disagreement in the hallway," I said looking down, "I didn't get in trouble."

"No, but why is this the first time I am hearing from your principal? I mean ever! It is this Adam kid, he is bad for you," my father said angrily.

"No, he helped me in this situation," I said desperately trying to defend my friend.

"I don't want to be called by your principal again, if I do, you will not be allowed to see Adam again," he said sternly.

"But…" I said.

"No, I am serious about this," he said.

I sat quietly for the rest of the ride home. I had to stay out of trouble, maybe if my dad met Adam his mind would be changed about him. When we got home I decided this weekend would be the best time to go get my dress.

"Hey, dad?" I asked.

"Yes," he sighed, turning around to look at me. I could only imagine how terrible I looked from crying all day.

"Can I go shopping for my prom dress this weekend?" I asked, "We could go together. I think it would be fun."

"I thought you weren't ever going to go to prom?" he asked.

I remembered that I told him that in my angry rant about us moving the last time.

"Yeah, well I guess I changed my mind," I said.

"Yes, we can go this weekend. That will be fun," he said.

I hurried upstairs and started reading some more of my book. I had finished the other one, and now I was reading a fairy tale inspired book. It was based loosely on the tale of beauty and the beast. It was set in the future, I guess I am on a sci-fi kick right now. I loved it. It was more romantic than I normally go, but it seemed fitting.

We ate pizza that night, and I tried to keep the conversation away from school, I didn't want to open that can of worms again.

"We will have to leave early tomorrow," my father said, "the closest place that sells prom dresses is about an hour away."

"Ok," I said, I looked at the time, and it was approaching 10 o'clock,

"I'd better get to bed," I said with a yawn, "It is going to be a long day tomorrow."

"Yes, I had better get some shut eye as well," my father said.

We threw away our paper plates and headed upstairs. I took a quick shower and brushed my hair and teeth before climbing into bed. I took some time to read before I was overtaken with tiredness and fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up early the next morning and quickly changed and got ready for the day. I met my father downstairs as he was drinking his coffee and reading his book.

"Hey," he said.

I grabbed a glass of orange juice and sat down across from him. I quickly drank it, I really wanted to get on the road, I was actually excited to get my prom dress.

"Alright, are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered quickly and not containing my excitement.

"Alright," he smiled.

We walked out to the car, and I had my book in my hand. I climbed in the passenger's seat and buckled my seat belt. He pulled out of the driveway and I watched the town go by and we were on our way. I watched the countryside go by. It was actually beautiful, when we were not actually moving. I kept looking at the clock, and only five minutes had passed. I would roll my eyes at the clock, and my dad would laugh every time.

After like twenty minutes, my dad asked me, "A little excited, are you?"

"Maybe," I said.

"Ha, I am glad that you like it here," he said.

"Me too," I said back breathing a sigh of relief, "I am so glad that I will graduate from here."

He just chuckled and I checked the clock again. We still had like thirty-eight more minutes. After what felt like the longest hour of my life, we made it to the store.

My dad pulled into the parking lot. It was a small boutique and there were not too many cars out front.

"Alright, we are here," he said. I was unbuckling my seat belt and practically climbing out of the moving car.

"Slow down, kiddo!" my dad laughed, "we have waited this long, you can wait until the car is parked!"

He parked the car and I jumped out, and bounded into the store. I normally hated wearing dresses, but this was going to be the best dress that I ever had.

"Hello and welcome!" a sales girl greeted us.

"Hello!" I said excitedly.

"Are you looking for a prom dress today?" she asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"Alright, we have our prom dresses over here," she motioned to the right side of the store, "If you need help, just ask!"

I walked over to the right side of the store to see hundreds of prom dresses.

"Where would you like to start?" my dad asked.

"Umm…" I scanned the dresses, but one caught my eye, "this one."

It was a beautiful yellow dress, the bottom had several tiers of fabric on it. The top synched in tight with small sleeves on it and a scooped neckline. I took it off the rack and headed to the fitting rooms, I strangely knew that this was the one that I wanted.

"Just one?" the attendant asked.

"Yes," I said to her.

She led me back to a fitting room.

"If you need anything, just let me know," she said closing the door.

I stepped into the dress and pulled the sleeves onto my shoulders. I turned to look in the mirror, and it was perfect. The color complimented my skin and hair perfectly. It wasn't a bright yellow, but more like the color of a dandelion. The bottom was embroidered and had some crystals on it.

I reached out my hand to open the door. I held the dress up as I walked out.

"That dress is perfect for you!" the sales girl said, admiring it.

I looked over at my father, he had tears in his eyes.

"What do you think?" I asked.

He got up and walked toward me, "I think it is beautiful," he said kissing me on the top of my head, "I am sure that your mother would love it as well," his eyes were filling with tears.

"Thanks dad, I know that she would have," I said.

I stood admiring the dress in the mirror, doing a little twirl in it.

"Can I get this one?" I asked.

"We came all this way for one dress?" he asked.

"Well, I think I need a pair of shoes as well," I said back.

He chuckled.

"We sell shoes here. What size are you? I think I have the perfect shoe and accessories," the girl said.

"Size eight and a half," I said to her.

She scurried away to find the shoes and whatever else. I stood there admiring the beautiful dress.

"Here you go!" she said handing me a box of shoes with a gold necklace on top. I put the necklace on with the help of my father and sat down to put the shoes on. I opened the box to see a pair of gold shoe heels. The heel was only about two inches, so it wasn't too high. I slipped them on and they fit perfectly. I turned to examine myself in the mirror, and I was shocked by what I saw. I looked stunning, it was the perfect dress and I couldn't wait for Adam to see it.

I heard my father tell the sales girl that we will take all of it. I smiled at him.

"Thanks dad," I said.

"You look beautiful," he said.

I hurried back to the fitting room to change back into my street clothes and my father was finishing paying when I came out holding the dress.

"That is not an easy dress to wear," the cashier said, "But you look absolutely beautiful in it."

"Thanks," I said.

"Thank you for shopping with us today," she said handing me the bag with the shoes and a separate bag with the necklace, "Have a fun time at your prom!"

"Thanks again!" I said.

"Good-bye" my father said as we exited the store, "I don't know about you, but I could go for some food right about now," my father said as we walked to the car.

"That sounds great," I said, "Thanks again dad, I love the dress."

"You're welcome," he said as we climbed back into the car.

We found a small diner on the road back and stopped for lunch. We each had a burger and a milkshake, then we were back on the road. We finally made it back to the house. I got out of the car and carried my dress into the house with great care. I couldn't wait to wear it in just under three weeks. I carried it upstairs and hung it in my closet. I kept my closet door open so I could see it, even though it was hanging in a garment bag.

I couldn't wait for Monday to see Adam and tease him about it. I knew that he would be excited about it. The weekend dragged on while I worked on homework, but I kept thinking about my prom dress and I actually got excited about going.

Monday finally rolled around. I woke up early and started to get ready, which I think was a little shocking to my dad, especially since I was called into the principal's office that Friday before. I came downstairs and was actually ready to go a little early today.

"What are you so happy about?" my dad asking teasing me.

"I am just excited to go to school," I said.

"You are wearing bright colors today, normally you just wear black or blue," he said raising an eyebrow.

"Ha, I guess you are right," I said looking down. It was a chilly May day, and I had on a long sleeve tan shirt with a pair of jeans.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yep!" I said, trying not to sound too excited about going to school.

We climbed into the car and took off toward the school.

"This isn't about a boy, is it?" my dad asked, "I don't think I am ready for that yet."

"No dad, I just feel like I finally found a place where I fit in, or at least I found a friend," I said wistfully.

"It is about a boy," my dad said.

"I guess it is, but not in the way that you are thinking," I said.

Thankfully we stopped the conversation because we pulled up to the school. I got ready to climb out when my father said, "Try not to get into any trouble today, ok?"

"I will try," I said and got out of the car and slammed the door.


	8. Chapter 8

I walked up to the school and pulled the door toward me. I didn't think that anything could dull my spirits. I waltzed into the school, looking for Adam.

I didn't see him, which wasn't odd, but I did feel a little uneasy. I walked up to my locker and I still didn't see him. I tried to push these uneasy thoughts out of my head, but something didn't feel right. I walked into my calculus class, and everyone was staring at me, which was strange.

I sat down and I turned to Sammie and said, "What's going on? Why is everyone acting so weird?"

"Didn't you here? I mean you were there?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" I said.

"Didn't Adam get suspended?" she asked.

"What? When?" I stammered.

"Yeah, he got suspended for fighting Greyson," she said, giving me a weird look.

"He didn't tell me he got suspended," I said.

"Well, I guess he did, at least that is what everyone is saying," she said.

I sat there wondering what happened. I walked up to the front of the room and asked Mrs. Stevens if I could go to the main office, I figured someone there could help me. She let me go, but told me not to take too long, I told her I just wanted to follow up with Principal Masters after the incident on Friday and she let me go after I asked her that.

I walked down to the office and quickly went right to Mrs. Potter.

"Mrs. Potter?" I asked, and she looked up at me, almost with a sad look on her face, "Where is Adam?"

"He ended up getting suspended after what happened on the bus…" she said.

"What happened?" I asked, desperately looking for answers.

"He got into an altercation with Greyson again. Greyson has quite the shiner to prove it," she answered.

"How long is he suspended for?" I asked panicking.

"Only three days," she said.

I started to run my hands through my hair. Now? This was the worst time.

"Is Greyson suspended?" I asked terrified.

"Unfortunately, no," she said.

"Oh no. Oh god no!" I said.

"It will be fine, dear," she said, I could tell she was trying to get me to stop panicking.

"It will not be fine! Adam helped protect me from Greyson," I said, feeling my breath coming faster.

"What are you talking about now Miss. Ivans?" I heard Principal Masters say behind me.

"Adam was the one who protected me from Greyson, what am I going to do now?" I asked frantically.

"Now, now, it will be fine. I am sure this is all a misunderstanding, Greyson is a great kid. He would never hurt anyone, go back to class, and stop worrying," he dismissed me.

I left the office, and I turned around to see Mrs. Potter giving me an encouraging look. I knew she knew what Greyson was capable of, and I knew she was nervous. What was I going to do for the next three days?

I walked back to calculus, happy that at least I got through part of the day without seeing Greyson. I made it through English safely, and I asked Mr. Henry if I could spend my study period in his room and he let me. I worked on my science homework, which now, I was really missing Adam. He was so good at this stuff and I was not.

I was not ready to go to lunch, but the bell rang and I walked down to the cafeteria. I quickly go my lunch and sat at the table Adam and I typically sat at. I looked around the entire period for Greyson, but he was nowhere to be found. I relaxed a little into reading my book while I ate.

Greyson wasn't there during science class, so I worked with Lucas, his lab partner.

"Is Greyson not here today?" I asked him.

"No, he didn't feel like coming," Lucas answered me. I felt a weight lift off my shoulder, at least for today, I was safe.

The rest of the day went extremely well, except that I am still terrible at French. I got in the car at the end of the day feeling the best that I could.

"How was it today?" my father asked.

"Fine," I said.

"How did it go with Adam?" he asked.

"Adam wasn't here today, I heard that he was sick and is going to be out for a few days," I lied. I couldn't tell my dad that my friend was suspended for fighting.

"That's too bad, well the news will still be there when he gets back," he shrugged.

"Yep, that is true," I agreed.

I thought to myself that it would be great if Greyson just stayed away for the next few days while Adam was suspended, but I knew that I couldn't be that lucky, and my worst thoughts came true the next day, when I say Greyson in the cafeteria. His black bun came bobbing down into the room. When I saw his face, I gasped. He had a huge black right eye and it was swollen so his eye could only open about half way. He also had a bandage covering half of his right eyebrow. He had a few other bruises on his, and I wondered what Adam looked like. I caught myself staring and I turned my attention back to my book.

He was getting a ton of attention, which I didn't mind. He couldn't talk to me. Everyone wanted to know what happened, and he changed his story every time. How Adam confronted him on the bus, how Adam jumped him in the hallway, how Adam ambushed him during the evening when he was walking through town. I didn't know what the true story was, and the worst part was that Adam wasn't here to defend himself. I made it through the day without him even looking at me. I enjoyed this, and wondered why it couldn't happen all the time. I could just walk the halls without looking for him around every turn. I could read in peace without the fear of him coming up behind me. Things were looking up and now with only two and a half weeks until prom, I was getting hopeful.

The next day things seemed to die down a little bit surrounding the incident. I didn't think anything of it, and made it through most of the day without seeing Greyson. I was sitting in science, working hopelessly on our new experiment when Greyson said his first words to me.

"New girl," he said.

I just focused on my work. I had no idea what I was doing, Adam was so much better at this stuff than I was.

"New girl," he called again. I could hear the class snickering.

"Greyson, leave her alone. She has to do this experiment without a lab partner, and apparently, so does Lucas," Mr. Smith said looking over at Greyson from another group. I smiled to myself, hoping that no one else would notice.

I continued to work until the end of the double period. When the second bell rang, I cleaned up my materials and headed off toward French. I was about half way there, I couldn't believe that I had made it this far in the day. I was walking passed a set of bathrooms that had been locked due to maintenance being done on them. When I passed the short bathroom, I felt something grab me from behind.


	9. Chapter 9

"Don't say a word," he whispered in my ear, and dragged me into the hallway. I felt my heartrate increase, and I willed myself not to cry, I had to focus on a way to get out.

He tossed me at the wall and blocked the short hallway.

"Do you see what your Beast did to me?" Greyson demanded, "All because you had to tell him about us." He laughed, "Why would you do that?"

"I don't think that there is an us," I said shakily.

"What?!" he yelled and lunged at me. He grabbed both of my wrists and held them above my head. He leaned over me. His face was only a few inches from mine and I could feel his breath heavy on my face. I tried to kick him to get away, but he put his legs on the inside of mine, I was incapable of moving. I heard the late bell ring and I knew there was a slim chance of anyone finding us. Plus, these bathrooms didn't work, so it was an even smaller chance that someone would come to help me.

I tried to struggle to get out, but I knew it was futile, he was bigger and stronger than me.

"Help! Someone please help me!" I yelled, hoping that at least someone would hear me.

"Stop that right now!" he said, and tightened his grip on my wrists. He moved his hips closer to mine, I looked down and then up at his face. His eyes were filled with a fire, and his whole body was on my crushing me into the wall.

"You know no one will find us back here," he whispered in my ear and I tried to suppress a shudder, but it didn't work. I knew that he felt it too, and he chuckled. He moved his cheek against mine. I looked back in his face, I saw an evil there, I knew what he intended to do, and I had to get out of here.

"Help!" I yelled again.

"Stop that," he said angrily into my ear. I let out a whimper.

"Why me?" I sniffled.

"Why you?" he said, "Why you? Don't you know that you are the most beautiful girl in this school? No one else even compares to you. Don't you want to be with the most handsome man in the school? We would make the best couple."

He started to lean in to kiss me, but I moved my head sideways so his lips landed on my cheek.

I knew he was angry, but I also knew that he couldn't pull my face toward his, unless he let go of one of my wrists. He scoffed into my ear.

"What is the meaning of this?" I heard a voice behind us say.

Finally, Greyson released me. I fell to the floor, thankful to be let out of his grasp. I looked up at the person who had saved me, and it was Mr. Smith, the science teacher.

"No worries Mr. Smith," Greyson said coolly.

"Why are neither of you in class?" he asked.

"I have a free period, and I met her here outside of the restroom," Greyson said smoothly.

"Is this true?" he asked turning to me.

I looked up at Greyson. His eyes were filled with the same fire I had seen earlier, and knew it was probably best to agree. I just nodded my head in agreement. I couldn't bear lying to him.

"Greyson, go back to class, Thea, come with me," he said sternly.

Greyson took off quickly and Mr. Smith glared at him as he walked past. He walked toward me and offered me his hand. I tried to think of a nice way to decline him, but the thought of any man touching me right now sent a shiver down my spine.

I got up by myself, but I was shaky and had a difficult time walking. I used the walls as a stabilizer and walked toward the science room with him.

"Let me find someone for you to talk to," he said. I think he could tell that seeing a man right now was not what I needed or wanted. He came back with the school nurse. She was an older woman with chestnut brown hair. She was dressed in a simple long brown sleeve t-shirt with a red scarf wrapped around her neck and a pair of khakis.

"I found her by the locked bathrooms with Greyson Stewart," Mr. Smith said to her. I looked down, I knew how this must look, but I tried to put on a brave fact, "This is her second incident with him in the past week, and I wanted her to talk to you before Principal Masters."

"Alright," she said to Mr. Smith, "I can take it from here."

"Of course," Mr. Smith said looked back and forth between the two of us and walked out of the door.

She sat down at the lab table with me.

"I am Sharon, what is your name?" she asked kindly.

"Thea," I sniffled.

"Thea, that is a very beautiful name," she said quietly.

"Thanks," I said through a little chuckle.

"Thea, what happened between you and Greyson?" she asked kindly.

"I… Well, I… I was walking from class here to my next class, French," I sniffled again, "He grabbed me from behind and dragged me down the little hallway where the bathrooms are closed. I stood between me and the exit. I felt trapped, well, mostly because I was," I said to her.

"What happened next, Thea?" she asked softly, "It is ok, you are not in trouble."

"Well, he held be against the wall. He got really close to me, and he tried to kiss me. That was about it. Mr. Smith found us and got him to stop."

"Is there anything else you would like to tell me?" she asked.

"No," I sobbed.

"Thea," she said taking my hand, "It is ok. You are not in trouble, but I have to ask, are you afraid of him?"

I nodded as I cried harder. She seemed to believe me. I fell into her and cried into her shoulder.

"It's ok, Thea," she purred, "It's ok,"

She let me cry for I don't know how long. She didn't speak, she just let me cry.

"Thea," she said after I started to calm down a little bit, "I think that you should talk to Principal Masters."

"I can't," I said.

"Why not?" she asked, sounding a little surprised.

"He didn't believe me last time," I said.

"What?" she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Another incident happened on Friday, and he told me that since they had no proof, they couldn't even prove that I was telling the truth let alone the boys."

"Come with me," she said. I could tell that she was angry. She walked with a purpose down to the office and stormed in.

"I need to see Principal Masters immediately," she demanded.

"I will see if he is out of his meeting," Mrs. Potter said looking from her to me. She waddled away to see if she could find him.

"Principal Masters?" I heard her say outside of his door, "Sir, Nurse James is here to see you."

"I will be out in a few minutes when I am done here," he answered her.

"It will be a few minutes," she said walking back to her seat.

"I will wait," Sharon said proudly and sat down on one of the chairs. I fumbled to sit down next to her.

"Thea, I will make sure that this doesn't happen again," she promised me.

We sat for a few minutes then I heard a door open. I looked over to see Greyson leaving the office and Principal Masters walking him to the front of the office.

"Alright, Greyson," he said, "I will see what I can do about that."

"Thank you, sir," Greyson answered, "I know I can always count on you."

He caught my eye and smiled, "Hey, Thea. How are you doing?"

I shivered and tried my best not to look away, but it failed.

"How dare you, young man!" Sharon jumped up sitting beside me.

"What are you talking about?" he asked innocently.

"You have assaulted his young woman a few times and you have the audacity to speak to her in front of me" she said sternly.

"Whatever she told you, she wanted it," Greyson said in her face and walked out the door.

"What do you need Sharon?" asked Principal Masters.

"I need to talk to you about this young woman," she said motioning to me.

"Let's all go back to my office," he said, and led us back to the office. He waited for us to file in and he shut the door, "Please sit," he said motioning to the two chairs on the other side of the desk. We both chose a seat. I looked around the office, almost refusing to look at Principal Masters. Was he going to believe me this time?

"Principal Masters," Sharon started, "This girl has been harassed and abused by a young man, or in this case I should say a boy, in this school. Not only has that happened, but now this is at least the second incident and you have not done anything about this!" She was fuming by the end. I was impressed and I felt empowered by seeing a woman be so strong.

"Sharon," Principal Masters started, "What proof do we have of believing either party? None. We cannot do an investigation with no evidence."

"Principal Masters," she was shaking with anger now, "This young woman is terrified of that young man. We have to be able to do something for her."

"Sharon, with only a month left in the school year, there is nothing we can do," he said getting defensive. I felt like an awkward third wheel on a date. They were getting heated with each other, and I just sat there watching the situation unfold.

"There is nothing we can do," she asked in disbelief, "Is she just supposed to walk around in fear?"

"No, I am sure that Greyson is just going through a phase, plus you are both graduating so…" he said.

"Really!?" she said with a laugh, "So we can't make any accommodations for her?"

"We can change her schedule," he said.

"No!" I said quickly. They both looked at me, "I just like my schedule." I was trying to play it off cool.

"Why should we be punishing her for the actions of another?" Sharon asked.

"We don't know what the other person did," Principal Masters said flatly.

"Please," I said, "If I can stay with Adam Bentley, he can protect me. Greyson doesn't come around when he is here," and I would like Greyson to stay away from me, I thought to myself.

"That settles it," Principal Masters said, "You can both leave."

Sharon glared at him, "If this was Adam Bentley you wouldn't think twice about punishing him, but we can't ruin the reputation of the school with this getting out about the star athlete."

She turned and exited before Principal Masters had a chance to say anything else. I followed her out of the small office, and back to the front. I heard Principal Masters stand and begin to walk out, and I saw Sharon walk faster to the door. She opened the door and led me out.

"You can stay in the nurse's office for the rest of the day if you would like," she said sweetly.

"I will," I answered.

She led me to the nurse's office, which I had never been to. It was by the library, which I have also never been to. It was on the first floor, pretty close to the office. I assumed that they put all of the offices close together.

It was strange to me that people couldn't see the real sides of both Adam and Greyson. How could they be so cruel to someone so kind? Sharon showed me to a bed, which I gladly laid down on. I remained there for the rest of eighth and ninth period.

"You are welcome to come by whenever you like," Sharon said to me as I was leaving for the day.

"Thank you for everything, but thank you most for believing me," I said.

"You are welcome. I hate to see any student in physical danger, and I am sorry to say that I failed you in that sense," she said looking defeated.

"It's ok, Adam is coming back tomorrow, and I will feel a lot better with him around," I said, trying to comfort her.

"Go on, Thea, I will see you tomorrow," she said.

"Bye," I said and left the office. I didn't even go to my locker. I felt that I couldn't, I was too afraid to see Greyson. I went straight passed the buses and to my dad's car. I hoped that I looked fine, I hoped that I looked like I hadn't been crying, I hoped that Principal Masters hadn't called him. I smiled and jogged to the car. I opened the passenger's door and climbed in.

"How was school?" my father asked.

"Fine," I said.

"Fine?" he asked, "Was Adam not there again today?"

"No, I hope that he is back tomorrow. I miss him," I said. Oh crap, I should not have said that to my dad.

"You miss him?" he said eying me suspiciously.

"Yeah, we haven't talked in a while, I like talking to him. Plus, I wanted to tell him about my dress," I said.

"Ok," he said. I knew he didn't believe me, and I had begun to not believe myself. We drove home in silence. I didn't remember what a normal day looked like.

I got home and went straight upstairs. I could not stop seeing Greyson looking at me, holding me down, trying to kiss me. I had to get out of the house, I had to find Adam. I gave up everything and walked downstairs.

"I'm going to head over to the coffee shop," I told my dad.

"Ok, I'll see you later," he said. He was focused on his laptop and his work. I wondered what would happen if he knew what was happening to me. I could never tell him, I was too ashamed. I had let this blow out of proportion. I opened the front door and began walking down the stairs and sidewalk when I saw him.

"Adam!" I called out and started to run toward him. He was walking toward my house, and his eyes lit up when he saw me, he also started to run toward me. We met about three houses down.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I had to see you," he said. He pulled out another rose from under his brown jacket. He handed it to me, and if felt the cool stem in my hands.

"Thank you," I whispered, tears coming back to my eyes. I couldn't look at him. I felt ashamed that I couldn't take care of myself without him, that everything bad happened when he wasn't there.

"Thea, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked a panic raising in his voice.

I finally looked up at him. His face looked normal, so Greyson got the brunt of the battle.

"Greyson attacked me again today," I said tearfully.

"What happened?" he asked frantically.

"I don't want to talk about it here," I said watching an older woman walk her little white dog passed us.

"I know where we can go," he said, leading me down the street. We turned away from the main street and walked a few blocks in silence. We walked a little ways, and there was a park. I stopped confused that I hadn't known there was a park here until right now. I guess it made sense, we were always heading into town, and I hadn't bothered to get to know where anything was since we were probably going to leave soon after I graduated.

He led me to a picnic table and sat across from me. It was the only picnic table, and it was far enough away from the street that people wouldn't be able to hear what we were talking about.

"What happened, Thea," he asked sympathetically.

"The first two days you were gone, he just left me alone," I said turning the rose over in my hand, "But today," I stopped and took a deep breath.

"It's ok, Thea," he said reaching toward me, but I pulled away. I still wasn't quite ready for him to touch me yet. He pulled his hands away reluctantly.

"Sorry," I said.

"No, I'm sorry," he said sympathetically, "What else happened?"

"I was leaving science, I tried really hard on our experiment, but I have no idea what is going on, by the way," I chuckled a little, trying to change the subject for a moment. I saw him smile, which made my heart clench. I shoved that thought out of my mind, thinking it was because someone was showing me some sort of feeling.

"I was about half way to French, when he grabbed me from behind and dragged me down that hallway where the bathrooms are locked. He told me that you intervened between me and him being together," I looked over at Adam, who looked like he was about to say something, but I cut him off, "I told him that me and him would never be together." I took another deep breath as I felt the tears coming again. I felt him grab me and shove me against the wall all over again.

"Thea, you don't have to go on if you don't want to," Adam said kindly.

"No, I want to, it just," I said. I took one more deep breath and wiped my eyes with the back of my hands.

I finally gathered myself and spoke, "He, shoved me against the wall. He held my wrists against the wall and his legs were inside of mine so I couldn't move," I took another break as the tears started again. I wish that he didn't do this to me, to make me fall apart every time I thought of him, "I called out for help, but he just held me tighter. He used his body to crush me into the wall, so I was incapable of moving." I took another deep breath. I could feel his body against mine his hands holding my wrists. I felt myself beginning to shake again, as if it was happening all over again.

"Thea," he said again. I looked up to see his face pleading with me. His face was contorted into a look of anger and pain.

"I asked him why he was bothering me, and you were right. Apparently, I am the most beautiful girl at the school, and we are destined to be together. He tried to kiss me, but I turned my head before he could. I knew that he couldn't make me because he would have to let go of one of my hands to force me."

I stopped again. It was all flooding back. Why did they suspend Adam? Why did they insist on keeping Greyson around me?

"Thea," Adam said again, "I am so sorry I wasn't there, I should have… I could have…"

We just sat in silence at the picnic table. It was strange to be talking about this in such a beautiful setting. There was a hill above us and below us was a small brook that I could hear bubbling. I could hear the songs of birds flying up above, and a few butterflies floating nearby.

"Mr. Smith found us and he had me talk to the school nurse, Sharon, she marched me down to Principal Masters office, which was useless. He said since there is no proof, there is nothing we can do."

Adam slammed his fist on the table. I jumped at the sound of it.

"Sorry, it's just…" he said, I could see the anger boiling inside of him.

"I know, believe me I know," I said, trying to calm him down.

"So, there is nothing that we can do?" he asked me through gritted teeth.

"No," I said quietly, "It doesn't help that Greyson has Principal Masters in his back pocket."

He scoffed.

"Wait, what happened between you and Greyson after we left on Friday?" I asked. I had forgotten about it.

I saw the muscle in his jawline twitch at the question, and I kind of regretting asking it, but I was so curious.

"Well, he rode my bus home the other day. He normally drives, but it was 'in the shop' and he was 'visiting a friend'," Adam laughed and looked down at his hands. I noticed that the knuckles on his right hand were broken and bruised, which I assumed was from the fight.

"He started to go on and on about what he was doing to you. He bragged about it, how he was close to getting with you, if you know what I mean," he said balling his fist again, "I stood up on the bus and told him to stop, and he wouldn't listen. I told him that if he said one more inappropriate thing about you I would make him pay for it." He stopped again and turned his head to look at a couple walking on the road nearby. I could see his scar. Most of it was covered by his scruff on his face and neck, but it was still there.

"He said that he enjoyed it, and I lost it. I started to punch him. I hit him a few times before anyone had the idea to pull me off him. He didn't even fight back, and now I know why," he stopped and looked down at his hands again.

"He did this on purpose, didn't he?" I asked.

Adam just nodded.

"I never thought of Greyson as being one of the brightest bulbs in the bunch, but he did figure out a way to play us," I said. He had gotten Adam suspended on purpose to get to me. He knew that he couldn't take Adam, which strangely felt good, as long I was with him, I was safe.

We just sat in the park for a few minutes not talking. The reality of how far Greyson had taken everything was setting in.

"Any good news?" Adam asked.

"Well, I did get my prom dress," I said, giving him a slight smile.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really," I said back matter of factly.

"Hmm…" he said, "What color is it?"

"I'm not going to tell you," I said flirtatiously, smiling.

"Why not?" he asked playfully.

"You wouldn't tell me what your suit looked like, why should I tell you what my dress looks like?" I answered just as playfully.

"What if we clash?" he asked.

"Did you really just ask that?" I said shocked.

We both laughed. It felt good to be around him again.

"You know, I really missed you," I said, seriously.

"Me, too," he answered. I caught his eye. He was a handsome guy and I felt myself blush and I quickly looked away. I didn't want things to be weird between us. I liked it the way it was, and if I told him how I felt… It might just get weird.

"I should be getting back home, my dad might be getting worried about me," I said and got up quickly.

"Let me walk you home," he said standing slowly.

"Alright," I said.

He led me up the small hill and back onto the main road. I carried the rose beside me.

"Thanks again for the rose," I said.

"You're welcome," he said soothingly.

Something about him had changed since I met him. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but he seemed different. Did I change since we met?

"You are coming back to school tomorrow, right?" I asked.

"Yes, I am," he said gently.

We had reached my front yard just before it had gotten dark.

"I am glad to hear that," I said. I started to notice how close we were, how blue his eyes were, how he smelled. I felt my heart beat faster, but I tried to tell myself it was nothing.

We stood in the yard for a few moments, the other waiting for the other to speak.

"I will see you tomorrow then," I said.

"Yeah, I will see you tomorrow," he said, almost disappointed.

Neither of us moved. I waited to see what he was going to do next, but he just turned and started to walk home. I felt my heart sink. I don't know what I was expecting. I didn't want to be touched anyway, or did I? These feelings just complicated everything. I waited to see if he would turn around and come back, but when he didn't I slumped off toward the house. I walked up the front steps toward the door of the house. I slowly wrapped my hand around the door knob, hoping still he would come back. I pulled the door open, walking back inside feeling a little defeated.


	10. Chapter 10

I thought that I heard voices coming from the dining room, but it could just be the television. I opened the door and stepped over the threshold.

"Dad?" I asked as I shut the door.

"Back here," he called from the kitchen. I heard the voices again. I curiously walked back toward the dining room.

"I helped her with some of her classes. You know that she is a special girl," I heard, and thought there is no way. It was Greyson sitting in my dining room, across from my father.

"What are you doing here?" I asked rudely.

"Thea!" my father said, offended.

"It's alright, Mr. Ivans, this must be a surprise for Thea, I guess she didn't get the message that I was coming," Greyson said sweetly.

"Ok, Greyson, I am sorry for my daughter's rudeness," my father apologized.

I turned and headed toward the front door, I hoped that Adam was still close by.

"Thea! Thea! Thea! Where are you going?" I heard my father ask, and I heard a chair slide across the hardwood floor. I reached the front door before whoever it was caught me, I opened it to see Adam standing on my front porch.

"Adam!" I asked, startled and relieved.

"Thea, I," he started when I heard footsteps behind me.

"Thea? What is the meaning of this?" my father asked.

"Mr. Ivans, sir," Adam said.

"Dad, this is Adam," I said.

"Yes, but what is he doing here?" my father asked.

"I, um… I wanted to talk to Thea about what I have missed at school," he said quickly.

"Yeah, we have all of the same classes," I said, equally as embarrassed.

"What's going on?" I heard Greyson ask from behind my father.

I locked eyes with Adam, his face went as white as a ghost, I am assuming that is how mine looked already.

"Oh, hi Adam," he said, "Mr. Ivans, thank you for the cup of coffee, I am sorry that I cannot stay. My mother would like me home for dinner. I will see you around. See you tomorrow, Thea," he said seductively. I shuddered as he walked passed, brushing up against me. He took a large step around Adam, I am sure that he was still frightened by him. I watched until Greyson was out of sight before I turned to speak to my father.

"What was that, Thea?" he asked me sternly.

"Dad, trust me, you do not want to know," I said trying to convey the severity of the situation, "I am just going to talk to Adam for a few minutes out here on the porch."

"Alright, but we will have a serious discussion when you come back inside," he said walking back toward the dining room. I closed the front door as I walked out onto the porch.

"Why did you come back?" I half whispered.

"Thea, I…" he said taking a step closer. I felt my breath catch in my throat.

"Yes," I said.

"I just… I just wanted to make sure you were ok. Something felt off to me. I am glad that I came back," he said.

"Yes," I said breathlessly. My heartrate had increased and my breathing increased. What was I waiting for? I made myself look at him in the eyes. He was looking down at me, but he wasn't looking in my eyes. I wanted him to kiss me, but part of me didn't want him to either.

"I had better go, before your dad comes back out," he said, but didn't make an attempt to move.

"Yes," I said again. He took another step closer, but quickly decided that was probably not a good idea and stepped back.

"I will see you tomorrow," he said heading for the stairs.

"Adam!" I said.

"Yes," he said turning around quickly. I thought about running to him and wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him in the yard, but I decided against it, "I will see you tomorrow!" I said giving him a fake smile.

He smiled too, but then sulked away.

I turned and fumbled with the door knob, but finally got back into the house. I took a moment to regret my choice to not kiss Adam, but I also knew that I didn't want anything to change between the two of us. I walked back into the dining room to find my father patiently waiting for me.


	11. Chapter 11

"Sit," he said sternly. I choose the seat across from him at the small dining room table. I looked right into his eyes.

"What is going on with you?" he asked.

"Dad," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, "I really don't think that you want to know."

I looked over at him with tears pooling in my eyes.

"Thea, you can tell me anything," he said.

"Dad, I really don't think that you want to know this," I said through tears.

"Are you at least talking to somebody other than Adam about what is going on with you?" he asked.

"Yes, and none of them believe me," I said, "Except the school nurse, Sharon. She believes me."

"Believes you about what, Thea," he asked desperately, "Please tell me what is going on."

"Are you sure you want to know?" I asked with the first tear falling.

"Yes," he said defiantly, "I want to know what is going on with you. You have been acting different."

"Alright, but can you promise me not to judge me or interrupt the story?" I asked.

"Of course, Thea, you are my daughter," he said.

"The day we moved here I met Greyson. He took a particular interest in me, I finally found out why, but that is coming later. He harassed me at school and it wasn't too bad until science class on the first day of school," I took a deep breath, "He threatened me. He told held me by my arm and told me he would get me alone someday," I said, I couldn't look at my father, I was so embarrassed, "This was after I went to the poetry reading instead of his basketball game. He didn't bother me too much until after the basketball team won the championship back in March. He just made rude remarks at me, but he didn't do anything. Adam, had been protecting me from him, and normally it works. When I am with Adam, Greyson doesn't come by. Last Friday is when things started to get rough. I was waiting for Adam outside of one of our classes, and um…" I took a deep breath as the tears had started to come through now, "Greyson forced me to walk with him. He asked me to prom, but I said no because I am going with Adam. He got mad, and um… pushed me on the floor." I had to stop for a minute. My dad handed me a handkerchief, which I used to dry my eyes a little bit. I had cried so much over the past few days, I just wanted it to stop.

"He pushed me on the floor and climbed on top of me," I choked out, "I tried to get away, but he, um… pulled me back toward him. I couldn't get away from him, but Adam pulled him off me. Mr. Henry, my English teacher, found us all in the hallway and took us to Principal Masters office. We each gave our version of what had happened," I wiped my eyes again, I was now just staring at the piece of white fabric in my hand, "I was reluctant at first to tell him, but I did. He said that I was probably just making it up. It was only an accident, and that Greyson didn't mean it."

I took another deep breath before I continued, "Adam wasn't sick, he got suspended because he fought Greyson on the bus for saying some inappropriate things about me on the bus. As you could probably see from the state of Greyson's face, and it looks a lot better from Monday. Well, today at school, Adam wasn't there, he was suspended for three days. Greyson grabbed me as I was walking to my French class," I said, feeling the tears of embarrassment and shame rising now.

"He tossed me down a small hallway, where the bathrooms are locked, so no one would see us back there. He asked me why I let Adam get between us. Which is absurd because there is no relationship between us. But when I answered him saying that there is nothing between Greyson and myself, he pushed me against the wall," I flipped over the handkerchief in my hand, "I screamed for help, but he only pushed me harder. He made it impossible for me to move. He tried to kiss me, but Mr. Smith, my science teacher, found us," I sobbed.

"I talked to the school nurse, Sharon, and she took me back to Principal Masters office. Unfortunately, Greyson had gotten there before us. Principal Masters still doesn't believe me. He offered to change my schedule, but I said no. I like my classes, and Adam is in every one of them, so I at least feel protected. But, the school nurse believes me, she is letting me go to the nurse's office whenever I need to talk to anyone. Dad, I am so sorry," I sobbed. I sobbed some more, I felt him wrap his arms around me and I cried into this chest.

"Thea, there is nothing for you to be sorry about," he said, "Thea, you listen to me, you have nothing to be sorry about."

I just kept sobbing into his chest. He just kept stroking my hair telling me that it will be alright. When I finally started to calm down I pulled away from his chest. I could see where my head was, my tears had ruined his dress shirt.

"Thea, why didn't you tell me as soon as it started happening?" he asked gently.

"I was embarrassed," I said shakily, "And, I hoped that it would just go away on its own."

"Why were you embarrassed?" he asked confused, "You had nothing to do with this."

"I can't take care of myself. I need Adam to protect me. I wish that I could take care of myself, but I can't."

"Thea," he said taking my hands in his, "Look at me,"

I looked over at him, he had moved his chair closer to me, I am assuming when I started sobbing.

"Thea, you are the strongest person I know. I cannot imagine what you are going through right now, but you are still here. You are strong, and you will get through this."

"Thanks, dad," I said, throwing my arms around his neck, "I love you."

"I love you too, Thea," he said.

I broke away from him after a few moments.

"Don't worry, Greyson is never allowed back in this house. I have half a mind to walk up to that school tomorrow and give them a stern talking to!"

"Dad, it isn't going to change anything." I said defeated.

"No, but promise me, you tell me if something else happens," he said sternly.

"I promise," I said. I meant it this time as well. It felt amazing to tell him what was going on, "Well, this was an exhausting evening, I think that I am just going to take a shower and go to bed."

"Did I ever tell you about how I met your mother?" he asked.

"No," I said still staying in my seat.

"We met in high school," he said, rocking me in his arms, "We went to prom together and decided the day after graduation to get married. It wasn't really well thought out, but I was sure I loved her. We tried for a long time to have kids, and about fifteen years after we were married, she was pregnant with you," he said I could hear the smile in his voice.

"What happened next?" I asked curiously.

"Well," he started, "She loved you from the first day. She was always doting on you, but when you were born things changed between us, as it does when you are in charge of another human being. I loved taking care of you, and sometimes, that meant that she didn't get as much attention. She and I started to fight more and more and one morning she left. She couldn't handle the pressure of taking care of another human being. She wanted to be a mother for the glory, but not for the right reasons. We were growing apart before she had you, but…" he said.

"I understand dad," I said, "Thanks for telling me."

"You're welcome," he answered.

"Now, I think it is time to go to bed," I announced getting up from my chair.

I walked toward the front door and saw the rose on the floor. I must have dropped it when I saw Greyson. I bent down and carefully picked it up.

"From Adam?" my father asked.

"Yeah," I said gently touching the petals.

I looked over at him. He had his eyebrow raised.

"Dad, I swear we are still just friends. He was just being nice," I said.

"Why did he come here this evening?" he asked.

"I don't actually know," I said, thinking back to our conversation.

My dad just smiled at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said and walked back to the dining room to do some more work.

I pulled out a taller cup that we had and filled it with water and put the rose on the dining room table.

"Good night, dad," I said.

"Good night, Thea, thanks for telling me," he said.

I just nodded at him and headed upstairs. I took a quick shower and got ready for bed. I sunk down into my sheets. I felt better after telling my dad. It was so hard to keep this from him. The next month or so of school would be hard, but with my dad, Sharon and Adam believing me, I knew that I always had someone to go to. I also thought of my mother, who she loved us, but it was better for her to not be here. I still missed her, but now I understood more. I drifted off to sleep rather quickly.


	12. Chapter 12

When I awoke the next morning, I smelled something cooking downstairs. I am sure that my father felt terrible about letting Greyson into our house after what had happened. I picked out a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and flats to wear today, since it was finally starting to warm up around here.

I brushed my hair and styled it, as well as doing my makeup. I dressed and finished getting ready and walked downstairs. I turned the corner to see my father cooking.

"Cooking again?" I asked.

"Well, trying," he said.

I saw the toast, and this time it still had a brownish color to it, and the bacon still looked like bacon.

"Getting better!" I said taking a piece of both and taking the orange juice out of the refrigerator and pouring both of us a Solo cup full.

I sat down at the dining room and ate the breakfast. It wasn't too bad.

"Dad, I am really impressed," I said.

"Thanks, you might make a cook out of me after all!" he said. I laughed knowing that will never happen, and he laughed too.

"We had better get going, you don't want to be late, and I hope you don't end up in the principal's office anymore," he said.

"Agreed," I said back. I grabbed my backpack and headed out the door.

We climbed into the car and drove off to the school.

"Have a good day," he said, "Keep away from Greyson."

"I will try on both," I said and slammed the door.

I watched him drive away. I took a deep breath and walked toward the school. I reached the doors and opened them. It strangely felt like the first day I was here. I kept walking and went to my locker. I opened it and got my books that I needed and put away the ones I didn't need.

"Hey," Adam said behind me.

"Hey," I said, "Sorry about my dad. He didn't know what was going on. I caved and told him last night. I think he actually may like you now."

I smiled and he scoffed.

"Ready for calc?" he asked.

"As ready as I will ever be!" I answered and we walked to the class room together.

Now we were staying in Mr. Henry's room during our study period, and Mr. Henry was allowing us to read books from his personal collection, needless to say that we didn't get much studying done during study period. We made it to lunch, and I built up the courage to ask Adam why he came to my house last night.

"Adam?" I asked sheepishly.

"Yeah? What's up?" he asked apprehensively.

"Why did you come back to my house last night?"

He didn't answer at first. I saw him thinking about how he wanted to answer the question.

"I don't know," he said honestly.

"How do you not know?" I asked.

"I just felt like I should," he said, "I felt like I needed to see you again."

I held my breath as he talked.

"I didn't like the way I left earlier. I really can't explain it," he said, looking down at his turkey sandwich. He pushed his tray away from him.

I opened my mouth to tell him how I felt, but then I saw Greyson saunter into the cafeteria. I immediately looked down. I didn't want to face him. Not right now. Not ever, really. Adam looked over his shoulder to see what were Greyson was.

"Thea," he cooed, "Don't worry, he wouldn't dare come over here now."

"I know, but still…" I said.

I felt bad that our relationship had started on something so pure, our love of reading, the feeling of being outcasts and now… well it wasn't the same.

We made it through the next two and a half weeks without incident. I was glad to not be sitting in the principal's office every couple days. I checked in with Sharon every few days in the morning when I got to school. I let her know what was going on, and for the most part, things were great. I grew more confident with Adam around, and we slowly started to get back to where we were before. My dad and I talked more, and things were looking up.

We finally made it, it was prom day. We only had about two weeks after prom, but this felt like the last day of school. The school planned a half day, and Monday was Memorial Day, so we had a nice long weekend to enjoy prom.

The prom was held at the only banquet hall in town. It was actually quite a beautiful place. It looked like a castle from the outside, and the inside matched the medieval feel. Exposed wood, archways, suits of armor, the works. The perfect place for the prom.

"So, prom starts at seven, so I will be at your house around six?" Adam asked me as we were leaving for the day.

"That sounds good," I said.

"I figured we could get a few pictures, and arrive there a little early," Adam suggested.

"That is a good idea!" I said.

"I will see you tonight at six," he said.

"Six!" I exclaimed.

I rushed back to the car with my dad.

"Are you ready for tonight?" he asked.

"Well sort of! Adam will be at the house around six so we can take some pictures and get to the venue early, the doors open at six-thirty. I only have a few hours to get ready!" I exclaimed.

We rushed home, and I plugged in the curling iron. It used to be my mothers, and it was one of the only things that she left behind. I started to set out my makeup when my father came home with the pizza. I ate quickly and went back into my bathroom to get ready. I did a little extra makeup for tonight. I started with my foundation and added some bronzer on my cheeks. I put on a light shade of gold eyeshadow and drew on my winged eyeliner. I flicked on the mascara. I decided to wait to put on the lipstick until I had my dress on, I didn't want to get any on there.

The curling iron finally got hot enough to use. I curled my hair, which took a little longer than I expected. By the time I was done, my long hair fell in waves. I pulled a little less than half of it back into a bun on the crown of my head. I stuck some gold bobby pins in the bun to tie the look together. I looked in the mirror. I looked so different. So, grown up, so, elegant. I hurried into my bedroom. I took off my t-shirt and jeans and slipped into my dress. I put on the gold necklace and strapped in my shoes. I walked back into the bathroom and put a coat of bright red lipstick. I blotted off the excess with a tissue. I looked at myself in the mirror. I couldn't believe that this was me. I admired myself a little bit longer, then walked back into my room to check the time. It was a few minutes to six.

I walked down the hallway and picked up the front of my dress with my left hand and used my right hand to steady myself on the stairs. I saw my father sitting on the sofa in the living room reading a book. He stopped and looked up when he heard me coming down the stairs. I made it to the third to the bottom stair, and it let out a loud squeak when I stepped on it, which made me chuckle, but I made it to the bottom without falling.

I walked over to my father, "What do you think?" I asked picking up the edge of the skirt of my dress and doing a little twirl.

"You look beautiful, sweetie," he said, kissing me on the top of my head, "Let me grab the camera!" he dashed off upstairs into his room. I could hear him fumbling around, "Found it!" he yelled from upstairs, and I laughed as he came bounding down the stairs.

"Alright, now stand over there" he said directing me to the blank wall in the living room, "Ok, perfect. One, two, three, smile!" he took a few pictures of me posing in my dress. I was laughing at my father pretending to be a professional photographer.

It was a little after six when the doorbell finally rang. I feel like my dad had already taken about fifty pictures.

"I'll get it!" he said. I knew my father wanted to give Adam a talking to before we left.

"Hello, sir," I heard Adam's voice. I felt my heart beating faster as my dad talked quietly to him for about a minute. I looked down and smoothed out my dress and pulled some hair in front of my body. What should I do with my hands? I thought to myself. I really wished that I had pockets right about now.

"Alright, will do sir," I heard Adam say.

"Come on in!" my father said.

I finally saw Adam step around the door. He had on a white dress shirt with a black bow tie. His suit was navy blue and he wore black dress shoes. He adjusted the cuffs of his jacket and his dress shirt as he walked in. He finally looked up. I felt my heart flutter. The blue in his suit accentuated his blue eyes. I had to remind myself to breathe.

"You look beautiful," he said walking toward me. Apparently, I had also forgotten how to walk, I just stood there as he walked toward me.

"Thank you," I said looking down at my dress, but really hiding the fact that I was blushing.

"I, um… got this for you," he pulled out a corsage, that was a single red rose, "May I?" he asked, pulling it out of the box.

"Yeah," I said, giving him my hand. He slid the corsage over my hand and around my wrist. His skin brushed mine as it went on.

"There," he said, dropping his hands.

"Do you have one for me to put on?" I asked.

"Here," he said. I fixed the boutonniere on his lapel.

"There," I said when I finished. I could hear my dad snapping photos the entire time.

"Do you two want to go outside to get some pictures? It is a beautiful evening!" my dad said leading the two of us outside. Adam offered me his elbow. I wrapped my hand around it and looked up at him, he smiled down at me and led me outside.

"Alright now, let's do one with you on the steps to the house," my father said frantically.

We stood there on the steps with my arm around his, and I smiled at the camera.

"Thea, no you need to do the typical prom pose!" my dad said.

I looked at him like he had suddenly grown three heads.

"Here," Adam said, dropping my hand from his arm. He put his hands on my hips and twisted me a little sideways. He grabbed my hand and put it on his.

"This is what he means," he whispered.

"Oh, ok," I said.

We moved around the yard taking pictures. I was impressed by how well Adam was putting up with my father.

"Dad, I think that is enough pictures, we have to get going," I said, I was ready to leave.

"Thank you, sir, I will take good care of your daughter tonight," Adam said extending his hand to my father. My father shook his hand, "I know you will. Alright, you two, have fun! I will see you both later!"

"Ready to go?" Adam asked extending his elbow to me again.

"Yes," I said taking it gratefully.

He walked be to the end of the driveway where a black little car was sitting. It looked like a small Chevy or Ford.

"Is this your car?" I asked.

"For tonight, yes," he said, smiling down at me.

I smiled, as he opened the passenger's side door for me. I turned around and called over to my dad, "I love you!"

He waved and said, "I love you, too!"

I ducked into the small car. I pulled my entire skirt into the car and Adam shut the door. I couldn't believe it was really prom night! He opened the door to the driver's side and climbed in. He put the keys in the ignition and started the car. I turned and waved to my father as we drove away.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Definitely," I said.

I watched him smile. I felt my stomach flip. He drove and we talked as we listened to the only radio station that came through clearly in town. We made it to the banquet hall at about six forty-five. Adam parked the car and shut off the ignition. We both unbuckled our seat belts, and I reached for the door, but Adam said, "Wait, allow me."

He got out of the car and walked around the car to open the door for me. He extended his hand to me and helped me out of the car. I wrapped my arm around his arm again and he slammed the car door. I heard the car click as he pushed a button on his keys.

"I never planned on going to prom," I said to him.

"Me either," he replied.

"I am glad I decided to come," I said looking up at him.

He stopped walking and looked down at me, "I am glad that I decided to come, too."


	13. Chapter 13

I smiled. It seemed like all of the problems that we had endured were vanishing. It was just the two of us. The way I liked it.

He led me inside. The entry way was beautiful. The exposed wooden arches and up lighting on the walls was a perfect combination. We both craned our necks to see every inch of the gorgeous ceiling.

They finally opened the doors and everyone filed in excitedly. There was a large dance floor with a DJ set up in the front of the room, who was playing some easy listening music as we entered. The back of the room was full of tables and chairs. The room had a similar feel to the lobby. The ceilings were high with exposed wood and the lighting was low, except in the banquet hall, there were beautiful golden chandeliers. The carpet was a reddish-orange color with what looked to be a flowery design.

There weren't too many people in our senior class, only about one hundred, or one hundred and fifty at the most. The room looked large enough to fit about two hundred people, which worked for students bringing dates who weren't seniors.

We picked a table all the way in the back of the room. As soon as people say us sitting there, they looked for another table to sit at. I saw Greyson walk in with his date, Sammie. He wore a white tuxedo with a vest and bow tie that matched her turquoise dress. It looked like she was dipped in turquoise glitter. I watched them pick a table with their friends toward the front of the section of tables. I looked around, and most of the girls had dresses similar to hers.

"Don't worry, you look beautiful," Adam whispered into my ear.

"Thanks," I whispered back.

"Alright, has everyone found a seat?" the DJ asked, "Great, I'm John the DJ tonight. Don't forget to cast your votes for prom king and queen outside with the teachers. We will get you started with dinner here in a few minutes. Wait until your table is called to go up to the buffet. If you have any song requests come see me! Let's get this prom started!"

Everyone applauded. We were one of the first tables called to eat because we were in the back corner. Adam walked behind me as we walked up to the buffet. There was a salad, potatoes, carrots, pasta, chicken, beef and rolls. I picked a little of everything, except the pasta. I could see the sauce ruining my dress before the night even started.

We walked back to our seats and ate the dinner. We ate in silence, I know that I was pretty hungry so I devoured my plate. We sat and talked while we listened to the easy listening music and waited for our classmates to finish eating so we could get up and dance. As more and more students finished eating we sat impatiently waiting for them to open the dance floor.

"Alright, I was just given the ok to open the dance floor!" DJ John yelled, "Let's get this party started!"

He played some up beat poppy music.

"Do you want to dance?" I called over to Adam.

"Isn't that why we came?" he yelled back over the music.

I laughed and grabbed his hand and made our way to the dance floor. We were hopeless dancers. It must have been quite comical to watch us. No one was watching us though, they were too occupied on themselves, just the way we wanted it to be.

He played some hip-hop music. The people around us were dancing a little risqué for me, but Adam didn't pressure me to do anything that I wasn't comfortable with. I just swayed to the music. I enjoyed the music selection. It was fun party/club music that was easy to dance to. I laughed looking over at Adam trying to dance, and he laughed at himself dancing.

"I can't dance," he yelled to me.

"No, you can't!" I laughed back, "But neither can I!"

We both started laughing, still dancing quite badly. After about thirty minutes of upbeat dance/club music, John said, "Alright, I think it is about time to slow things down, find your date and we will get our slow dance on."

I turned to look at Adam. He held his arms out to me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he wrapped his around my waist. He pulled me close, close enough that our bodies were touching. I looked at his chest for about half of the song. I was afraid to see what would happen if I looked up.

"Thea," he whispered into my ear. I force me to look up at him.

"Yes?" I asked looking him in the eye. I knew that this would happen. I saw his beautiful blue eyes looking gently down at me. His lips were parted, and I felt my heart skip a beat.

"I knew the reason I came to your house that night," he said.

"Oh?" I said breathlessly.

"I wanted to tell you how I felt, how I still feel," he said shallowing hard.

"How is that?" I said kindly.

"Thea, I…" he said quietly, leaning in toward me. This was it. The moment I had been waiting for since I met him.

"Hey, Beast," Greyson interrupted us.

Adam jolted his head back.

"Oh, don't mind me," he said as he leaned in and kissed Sammie.

I looked away, clutching onto Adam's shoulders. I wouldn't let him ruin this evening, but the moment had passed. I looked up at Adam's face. He looked disappointed. The slow song had concluded, and the DJ switched back to the upbeat music.

I released Adam, but looked over to see Greyson and Sammie 'dancing' together.

"Do you want to go get some fresh air?" Adam asked.

"Yes!" I yelled over the music.

We walked out the back of the room and into a hallway. We found a door that led outside to the gardens. I felt a blast of cool wind when the employee standing there opened the door for us.

"Thank you," I said to them and the nodded in reply.

We walked out into the garden. It was early summer, so many of the flowers had not grown yet. The path twisted through the garden. We walked in an awkward silence after what had happened during the slow song.

"Thea-"

"Adam-"

We both started at the same time and laughed awkwardly to ourselves.

"Go ahead," I said first.

"No, you go," he said.

"I asked first," I said stubbornly.

"Well…" he said. I looked up at him.

"Just tell her you love her already," Greyson said annoyed behind me.

I looked behind Adam, and saw two of Greyson's friends.

"Adam!" I yelled, but it was too late, the grabbed him.

"Get off! Get off of me!" he yelled at the two boys who were struggling to keep him restrained.

"Isn't this interesting," Greyson said, "I have the Beast captured, and now I get his prey." Eying me with his last word.

The boys all chuckled.

"Let him go, Greyson," I pleaded.

"No, I don't think so," he said. I turned to look at Adam. He was desperately trying to get away from them. He was wiggling around with all of his strength.

"Don't even try Beast," Greyson said, "I want you to watch me kiss your date, who knows maybe we will even go a little bit further." he made some suggestive gestures after the last word. I tried to get away, but Greyson was too fast. He grabbed me around my waist, "Help! Please someone…" I tried to say more, but he covered my mouth, "Make one more noise, and your Beast will look even more beastly," he whispered angrily in my ear. I nodded to show I understood what he was saying.

"I told you we would be together," he said dropping his hands. I looked over at Adam. He had stopped struggling. I made eye contact with him. I could see tears running down his face.

"Stop," he said, "Please, just stop."

I heard him start to sob.

Greyson laughed, "The Beast is in love with her. It is almost to comical! Now it is crying. I will give you something to cry about!" He lunged at Adam. Hitting him in his stomach and punching his face. I started to run toward him.

"Greyson! Greyson! Stop!" I yelled grabbing his back, hitting him, doing whatever I thought would make him stop.

He turned and threw me to the ground. I hit the ground hard. I felt my head hit off the cement. I thought everything went black for a moment.

When I came to, Greyson was on top of me. I clawed at the ground trying my best to get away. My head was throbbing and I was dizzy, but I knew what I had to do.

"Get back here!" he roared, grabbing me and pulling me closer.

"Help! Please help us!" I yelled through tears and the pain in my head.

"Stop it!" Greyson yelled slapping me across the face.

"Help! Please help us!" I kept yelling.

Finally, I heard someone yelling, "What is the meaning of this?" I turned to see Principal Masters coming towards us, followed by a few staff members and Mr. Henry and Mr. Smith.

"Principal Masters," Greyson said, quickly getting off of me.

"What is going on out here?" he demanded.


	14. Chapter 14

"Well… You see… It's not what it looks like…" he started.

"If you must say all of that, you know that it is exactly what it looks like," Principal Masters glared at Greyson, "Take them inside," he said motioning to the two boys holding Adam.

"Miss. Ivans, Mr. Bentley, are you both ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I said, "Just a little headache."

I looked over to Adam who was slumped on the ground.

"Adam!" I said running over to him, "Oh, Adam! Please be ok!"

"Thea," he got out. His face was bloody and bruised.

"Adam," I said, with tears in my eyes, lifting his upper body onto my lap.

"Don't cry," he coughed.

"I should have done whatever I could to protect you," I said tearfully.

"Thea," he said through his daze, he limply reached a hand up into my hair, I put my hand on his, "I love you"

He laughed through tears, "I love you too," I said, "Oh, Adam I should have told you so many times before now."

I had forgotten that there were other people around.

"Thea, we called an ambulance for him," Mr. Henry said to me.

"Oh, thank you," I said.

"Thea," Mr. Henry said, "We have also called both of your parents, they are on their way."

"Ok," I said through tears. I held onto Adam until the paramedics got there, even then I had a hard time giving him to them. They check me out, and it turns out I did have a mild concussion, but Adam's wounds were worse. He had a broken rib, broken nose and a concussion.

"Where is my son?" I heard a woman ask. I turned to see a beautiful woman with the same blue eyes as Adam, "What happened?"

"Ma'am, your son is on his way to the hospital," Principal Masters said, "He got into a fight with another student, but his injuries are not life threatening."

Principal Masters was corralling other students so they didn't see what was going on.

"Ma'am?" I asked walking up to her.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Are you Adam's mother?" I asked.

"Yes. Who are you?" she asked back. I shallowed hard before answering.

"I am Thea. Thea Ivans. Your son took me to the prom?" I said to her.

"So, I finally get to meet the famous Thea," she said walking toward me, "My son talks about you a lot."

"Really?" I asked surprised.

"Yes," she said. I could tell she was annoyed with me.

"I just wanted to let you know how brave he is. He was standing up for me, that is why he got into the fight," I told her.

"Look what good that does him now," she said and walked back to her car. I watched her speed off, and I wondered how Adam turned out the way he did.

"Thea!" I heard my father yell through a group of people.

"Dad!" I yelled back.

"Thea, are you ok?" he asked.

"Dad, I'm fine," I said, "But they had to take Adam to the hospital."

"Alright, let's go," he said dragging me to the car.

"What happened?" he asked as he turned down the main street.

"We decided to go for a walk in the gardens out back, and Greyson ambushed us. He brought a few friends who held down Adam while he beat him. I couldn't help him, so I just started hitting Greyson to get him to stop, which he did, but he pushed me on the ground. I hit my head," I looked over at him, "It is ok, I just have a slight concussion. But the Principal came out and found Greyson on top of me with Greyson's friends holding Adam beaten and bloodied, so I think he finally got the message."

We reached the hospital quickly and I ran into the front desk.

"I am looking for Adam Bentley," I said to the nurse sitting there, "He would have come in only a short while ago."

"Bentley, yes he is in room 294, but he may be sleeping, so just let him sleep," she said.

"Thank you," I said, "294!"

We hurried down the hall to the elevator, and traveled up to the second floor. We looked at the signs quickly and went to the left. We finally found his room.

He had been taken out of his blue suit and was now wearing a hospital gown. His face had been cleaned from before, but it was still swollen.

I walked in slowly, "Adam?" I asked.

"Thea?" he asked turning toward me, "Thea, what are you doing here?"

"I had to come and see you," I said frantically walking closer to him, "I am so sorry, this should have never happened."

"Thea," he whispered, I couldn't tell if it was from sleepiness or pain, "None of this was your fault. I would rather have had this happen to me one thousand times, then see Greyson hurt you like he did."

"Adam," I said grabbing his hand. I pulled a chair close to his bed and sat on the edge of it.

"You are going to stay?" he asked.

"As long as I can?" I said turning toward my father.

"I will run home to get you a change of clothes," he said.

"Can you also grab my book of poetry?" I asked.

"Of course," he said, looking from me to him, as he was leaving.

"I hear that you met my mother," strained to say.

"Yeah," I said back trying not to give away our interaction.

"She is quite the handful, isn't she?" he asked.

"I don't know if I would say that," I said, "Is she staying too?"

"Naw, she already went home," he answered, "She just wanted to make sure the car was ok."

I chuckled a little.

"Thea, did I ever tell you how I got the scar?" he asked.

"No, but I heard it was from a car accident," I said.

"That is what they would say," he chuckled to himself, "That is not what happened," he adjusted himself in the bed, "My parents are very wealthy, they own like the entire town here, that is why we moved here. It was an investment for them," he said. I closed his eyes, in pain.

"You don't have to tell me the story now," I said, "You can rest if you need to."

"No, it's fine, I want to tell you," he made out, he cleared his throat and continued, "My father and mother are not on the best of terms, but a divorce would ruin them. One night, when we lived in our old town, they got into a fight. I mean a bad fight. My father was throwing things at my mother, and vice versa. I tried to get them to stop, but my father threw a broken vase at my mother, and it hit me in the face, and now I have this battle scar. Well, now I have a few more."

I chuckled at that too.

"That is why I never wanted you to meet them. I didn't want you to ever meet them. They are the cruelest people ever, and I am a walking advertisement of that. I think about their hatred that left me with this mark. That is what drew me to helping you with Greyson. I could see myself in you, and I didn't want it to end up the same way. Which, I guess it did, because we are here in the hospital."

I scoffed, "I hoped that we wouldn't be in the hospital." I said.

"Me too," he said. I could tell he was drifting off to sleep. My father arrived back soon after that.

"Where are his parents?" he asked.

"At home," I said.

"Hmm…" he said handing me a small duffle bag. I carefully let go of Adam's hand and walked to his room bathroom. I got out of my beautiful dress that had been made dirty by the altercation, but it was still beautiful.

I walked out of the bathroom in my jeans and t-shirt.

"Thanks dad," I said curling up in the chair next to his bed.

"I have to go home, are you ok here?" he asked nervously.

"I think I might be in the safest place possible," I said back.

He laughed, "I will see you in the morning,"

"See you!" I said.

I grabbed the notepad next to Adam's bed and began scribbling my thoughts down. I wanted to surprise him when he woke up. I worked tirelessly throughout the night. I finally fell asleep around 3 AM.

When I awoke the next day, he was still sleeping, but my dad was there.

"What time is it?" I asked groggily.

"It is around 10 AM," he said looking at his watch.

"Hmm…" I said stretching my arms above my head.

"How is he?" my dad asked.

"He fell asleep a little after you left last night, and as far as I know, he was not awake since then."

"Hmm…" my dad said, "Here," he handed me a cup of hot chocolate from the coffee shop down the street.

"How was the prom?" he asked, "Well, besides the obvious."

"It was really nice. I found out that we are both just awful dancers, but we had a good time," I said smiling.

"Did anything else happen?" my father asked.

"Dad!" I said embarrassed.

"What? I could see the way you were looking at him. I may be old, but I am not dead," he said.

"Dad!" I said in a fake scolding manner.

"Thea?" he asked raising his eyebrow.

"No, nothing happened," I said, "I promise, there was no kissing at the prom."

"Alright…" he said, turning to his book.

Around noon, my dad went down to the cafeteria to get us some food, and Adam started moving.

"Adam?" I asked.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Around noon," I said quietly.

"Noon? Already?" he asked, groggily.

"Yeah," I said.

"Did you stay here all night?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"You didn't have to do that," he said.

"I know," I said, choosing my next words carefully, "I wanted to stay with you."

He looked over at me, his eyes still as blue as ever, I smiled at him. He laid he his head back on the pillow gently. I scooted my chair closer to the side of his bed, and took a hold of his hand.

"I know we are not at the coffee shop," I said slowly, "But I wrote a poem, and I wanted to share it with you."

"Alright," he said skeptically.

"Beauty, a response to Beast," I started.

"Beauty  
Kindness  
Beauty  
A smile  
Beauty  
A kiss  
Beauty  
Love  
Beast  
Protection  
Beast  
Loyalty  
Beast  
Affectionate  
Beast  
Savior  
No Beauty without the Beast  
No Beast without the Beauty  
Destined to be  
Two parts connected  
Two Parts in love  
Destined to be"

I finished the poem and folded up the piece of paper.

"That was beautiful," he said.

"I tried," I answered.

"You are not as bad at poetry as you think," he said making both of us chuckle.

I heard a sound coming from the door, and I looked over to see my father holding two Styrofoam take out boxes. I wondered how long he had been there, but by the look on his face long enough.

"Dad," I said, walking over to great him at the door.

"Thea, that was a wonderful poem," he said. I could see tears pooling in his eyes.

"Dad, you will never lose your little girl," I said touching his face.

"I know, but I guess I have to come to terms with you growing up," he said looking down at the boxes. He took the top one off and handed it to me, "This one looked the most edible."

I laughed and took the box from him. I wrapped my arms around his waist, whispering into his chest, "I love you dad."

"I love you too Thea," he said kissing me on the top of my head.

"Adam, how are you feeling today?" my dad asked him.

"I've been better, but still not too bad," he answered.

"Good, I hope that you will be there at graduation in a few weeks," my dad said back to him. I pulled a chair over for my father. I sat down in my chair and opened the box. It was a brown mass covered in gravy.

"Dad, what is this supposed to be?" I asked showing both of them the box.

"I think meatloaf, but you should have seen the other options," he answered raising his eyebrows.

We all laughed. We talked about the prom, telling my dad the highlights of the night. We also talked about the books we were currently reading, and what was on deck for our next book. The doctor came in about an hour later. He was a younger doctor, he was tall and lean, with brown hair. We had waited for a while and we listened with great anticipation of what he would say.

"Adam, how are you feeling today?" he asked, "You took quite the beating here." He said examining his face and chest.

"I am feeling a little better," he said.

"Well the swelling has gone down, and it looks like there aren't too many cuts on your face, so that is also a good sign. I think that you will stay here for one more day, just so we can make sure everything is good, but if all goes well, you can go home tomorrow."

I looked over at Adam, smiling.

"What about school on Tuesday?" Adam asked, "I would really like to finish my senior year."

"Well, your rib looks like it will heal pretty well on its own, your nose is luckily not going to need surgery, the concussion is the only thing I would be worried about. But if you think that you can make it, I will let the school nurse know what is going on, and we will get you through the end of the school year."

"Thanks, doc," Adam said.

"You are welcome, Adam, good luck for the last couple weeks of your senior year," the doctor said, and he turned to my father, "Are you Adam's father?"

"No, I am Thea's father," he said motioning to me.

"Oh, I will have to inform his parents to pick him up tomorrow, if that is ok with you, Adam?" he asked looking over at Adam who nodded.

"I will be back in a few minutes with that paperwork," he said and left the room.

"At least I don't have to finish my senior year by myself," I said to him.

"Agreed," he said.

"Thea, are you going to spend the night again?" my father asked.

"Yeah, probably," I answered.

"I am going to go back to the house, I will be back later, I will grab you another change of clothes," he said getting up and exiting the room. He smiled at me as he left the room and I smiled back.

He scooted over in the bed and patted the room next to him.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, come on," he said back. He was more awake after the doctor had come to talk to us. I crawled into the bed with him and rested my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his right arm around me, pulling me closer.

"I am surprised that we can both fit on here," I said to him.

"Are you calling me fat?" he asked, laughing, I chuckled at his astonishment.

I snuggled closer to him and closed my eyes. I had always wondered what this felt like, and now that I knew, I was not disappointed.

"Can you believe we are almost out of here?" he asked.

"No, I honestly cannot," I said back.

We just laid there for a while, I could tell we were both tired. After about another hour, Adam's parents came into the room.

I quickly jumped down from the bed into my chair. I had already met his mother, and she did not really like me. I didn't want to give off another bad impression.

"They said you can come home tomorrow," she said to him. I got another look at her. She had the same blue eyes as Adam, but she had blonde hair. I looked over at his father. He had a serious face, and his brown hair curled like Adam's, but that is where the resemblance stopped.

"Yeah, I guess I can," he said. I could feel the tension in the room.

"I am going to go get some coffee," I started to get up to go, but Adam grabbed my hand.

"Stay?" he asked.

"Of course," I said sinking back down into my chair.

"If the girl wants to go, let her go," his father said rolling his eyes.

"This isn't just any girl," Adam shot back at his father, "She stayed with me all last night, she is planning on staying tonight. Her father was here when the doctor came to talk to me. She isn't just any girl."

I looked down at my hand in my lap, I didn't want to look up at his parents.

"Are you saying that we don't care about you?" I heard a female voice say.

Adam didn't answer, his grip tightened on mine.

"We give you everything!" she yelled. I looked up slightly at Adam. His head was turned off to the side and I could see his jaw clenched.

"Is there a problem?" a nurse asked stepping into the room.

"No, dear, we are just having a small disagreement. Thank you for checking in though," his mother said sweetly smiling at the nurse.

She shot her son a nasty look, and I wondered again how he turned out so different. It was easy to be consumed by hate, but I didn't understand why they hated their own son.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. It was quite the awkward silence.

"We will be here tomorrow to take you home," his father said solemnly, and led his mother out of the room.

Adam's grip on my hand loosened a little again as he watched them walk out of the room.

"I'm sorry about that," he whispered.

"What is there to be sorry about? If I have learned anything this year, it is that you can't change other people," I said gently.

He moved back over and I climbed back in the bed with him. He wrapped his arm back around me and I settled in for the rest of the afternoon. We watched whatever was on the television in the room and talked about nothing.

Early in the evening, a nurse came back into the room, "Adam?" she asked looking at him.

"Yes?" he asked.

"You have a few visitors here," she said.

"Umm... send them in, I guess," he said confused.


	15. Chapter 15

Principal Masters, Mr. Henry and Mr. Smith all walked into the room. I carefully tried to slide back out of the bed seeing it was a little awkward to see these men in this situation, but Adam kept his arm wrapped tight around me. I knew I wasn't going anywhere.

"Adam?" Principal Masters asked walking closer to the bed.

"Yes?" he asked again.

"How are you feeling?" he asked awkwardly. The other men filed into the room as well.

"I'm feeling better. I can go home tomorrow," he said, looking between all of the men.

"Great," he said pausing for a few minutes. I could hear call bells going off in the hallway.

"Will you be coming back to school on Tuesday?" the principal asked.

"The doctor cleared me, so I was hoping to," Adam answered.

"Great" he said again, looking at me. I had a strange feeling that he wanted me to leave the room.

"She can stay," Adam said firmly, as if reading Principal Masters and my thoughts.

"Ok, well… I guess this does concern her as well," he started, walking closer to the bed and standing above us.

"Greyson and his friends will not be returning to school this year," he said, looking down at the floor. I looked over to Adam, and I don't think I could hide the excitement in my face. He smiled at me and kissed me on the top of my head.

"You are finally safe," Adam whispered to me.

"He will also not be attending graduation," Principal Masters informed us.

I don't think that I could hold back my joy. I couldn't believe that we had finally broken free from him. We were safe, and could enjoy the last few weeks of our senior year to the fullest.

"Thank you, Principal Masters," Adam said to him.

"Thank you," I said as well.

"You are both welcome, I hope to not see you in the office anymore," he said, and turned to leave the room.

"So, you both are ok?" Mr. Henry asked walking toward us.

"I think that is a difficult question to answer," Adam said.

Mr. Henry chuckled.

"No, we are fine," I answered, "Especially for what had happened."

"I am glad to hear that everything worked out well in the end. I am happy that you will not have to be worrying about Greyson anymore," Mr. Smith said.

"Can we still stay in your room during study period?" I asked Mr. Henry.

"Of course, you are both always welcome in my classroom," he replied to me.

"Thanks," I said.

"Stay out of trouble, you crazy kids!" Mr. Henry called after he was leaving the room.

We just laughed, partly in what Mr. Henry had said, and part in disbelief that this was actually over, finally.

"It's over," I said, "It is actually all over. I can't believe it."

"Me either," Adam said.

"We can actually enjoy the end of the school year," I said smiling, and snuggling into this chest. I ran my hand over the top of his chest, trying to avoid his broken rib on the left side of his body.

"Thanks for staying here," he whispered into my hair.

"You are quite welcome, it has been my pleasure," I answered tilting my head up toward his.

We stayed cuddled together throughout the night, and it was a lot better than sleeping in the chair. When I woke up the next morning I saw an extra set of clothes sitting on the chair next to me. I looked over to see that Adam was awake.

"How long have you been up?" I asked through a sleepy haze.

"Not long," he said.

I stretched my arms out and up as I climbed down from the bed.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"The change, plus," I said through a yawn, "My breath smells terrible."

He just chuckled and stretched out his arms as well. I saw him wince in pain when he reached a certain spot. I pretended like I hadn't seen it, and gathered my clothes and went into the bathroom attached to his room. My dad brought me another simple t-shirt and jeans that I slipped on. I folded up the other clothes and put them in my duffle bag when I came out of the bathroom.

"Adam," I heard the doctor say.

"Yes, sir?" he asked.

"I have got your discharge paperwork here, and I just need you to sign them, and you will be already to go. We have to check up on your concussion and other broken bones, but if everything goes well, you should be good in a few weeks," the doctor said. He handed the paperwork to Adam and explained to him what he was signing. I cleaned up my area, the takeout containers and other litter laying around.

"Thank you, have a good senior year!" the doctor called to us.

We thanked him.

"I don't have any clothes except for my suit," Adam said sheepishly.

"You can wear your suit," I said.

"It has blood on it, and my parents haven't seen that yet…" he answered slowly.

"Oh, I can call my dad to bring you at least a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants?" I asked.

"You know what," he said standing up, a little unsteady, "I will wear my suit, I only get to wear it once."

"You do that," I said, "I like this side of you!"

"I do too," he said, walking closer to me.

"I don't know if I can take you seriously in that hospital gown," I said through a chuckle.

"Really?" he said raising an eyebrow at me. He started toward me and I ran away playfully.

"If I wasn't injured I would be able to catch you," he said, breathlessly.

"I know and I am taking full advantage of that," I said back flirtatiously.

He found his suit amongst his things, and walked into the bathroom to change. He walked out in his suit pants and dress shirt unbuttoned. He reached for the bottom button, but was fumbling with his hands.

"Allow me," I said, walking over to him.

His bare chest was on display. His body was very toned, and I knew that, but this was the first time that I had seen it. I put my hand on the bottom button and he grabbed my hand. I looked up at his face, the swelling had gone down even more, and despite the black eye, and twist in his nose, he looked the same.

With his other hand, he moved it up to my face, pushing my falling hair out of the way. I moved my hand to the side of his face that was less bruised. I wrapped my fingers around his neck as he pulled my face closer to his. I turned my face to the side, hoping to avoid his broken nose. His hand felt strong as it moved to the back of my head, pulling me even closer. I closed my eyes right before our lips touched. I allowed my other arm to tie around his neck. I felt his other hand on my face pulling me in. My heart was beating, what felt like, a million times per minute.

This was it, the moment I had been waiting for since the day we met, and now it was finally coming true. I didn't want this moment to end, maybe except for the fact that we were standing in the hospital room. He finally pulled away, and I rested my forehead on his.

"Wow," I said breathlessly.

"Yeah," he breathed. I could feel his breath on my face, it was coming faster than before.

"Are you ready to go?" he heard an annoyed female voice behind me.

Adam ignored her and ran his hands through my hair.

"Adam!" she said loudly, but he still ignored her, I felt his thumbs stroking my cheeks, I just smiled at him.

I heard angry heel clicks coming toward us.

"Adam," she said pulling him away, "We drove all the way here to pick you up. Let's go!"

I stood there in shock about the way she treated her son.

She looked him up and down, "Come on Adam, button up! No one wants to see that!" she said putting emphasis on the last word.

He fumbled with the buttons, but made them about half way up when he stopped. He picked his suit jacket and hang it on his forearm.

"Thea? Adam? How are you doing…" I heard my father say walking into the room, "Oh I am sorry, we haven't had the chance to meet yet, I am Marcus, Thea's father. You must be Adam's parents! It is wonderful to meet you! You have quite a wonderful son," my father said cheerfully holding his hand out to Adam's parents. They looked at him as if he had just insulted them.

"Oh, I am sorry we are just leaving," his mother said matter of factly, leading Adam and his father out of the room.

My father and I were alone in the hospital room.

"That was interesting…" he said, "How did Adam turn out to be such a nice kid?"

"I honestly have no idea," I said trying to suppress a smile, but it wasn't working.

"What happened?" my father asked.

I didn't answer. And his face when into a shocked look, "He kissed you didn't he?"

I didn't answer again, but just smile.

"He did!" my father said.

"Don't make a big deal out of it," I said, trying to get him off of the subject.

"How can I not make a big deal out of it?" he asked.

"Just drop it, dad," I said.

"I still can't believe it," he said, "You swore to me up and down that the two of you were just friends."

"I tried to believe it myself, but…" I said my voice trailing off, there was no need to say more.

We went home and I just hung out with my dad until Tuesday and it was time to go back to school. I was still nervous, but also excited. I didn't have to worry about seeing Greyson, and Adam and I… well….

I walked into the school, and everyone was gossiping about what had happened at the prom over the weekend. When I walked by the conversations got quiet, I knew that everyone was shocked about Greyson. It was a complete surprise that what he had been rumored to be doing, happened to be true.

I walked to my locker, hearing the whispers as I went passed, but when I saw Adam, I didn't hear them anymore.

"Hey," I said as I approached my locker.

"Hey," he said.

"Can you believe that everyone is talking about what happened?" I asked putting my books into my locker. I closed the door and looked over at him.

"Why don't we give them something else to talk about," he said, grabbing my face and pulling it toward his. He kissed me with more force than the first time, but just as much passion.

When we separated, I smiled at him. I looked around to see everyone pretending that they weren't just staring at us.

"Ha," I said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Last week, no one even knew that we existed, but now it is like we are the new rulers of the school," I said looking around seeing all eyes on us again.

"Don't let Greyson hear that," he said, "I don't think that he can take that blow to his reputation as well."

We laughed and walked off hand in hand to our next class. The next two weeks to graduation were the best two weeks of my life. My father made a deal so that we could stay in the town and make it our permanent home.

Graduation came around quickly. I was dressing in my white cap and gown when my father came into my room.

"Congratulations, Thea," he said, pulling me into a hug and kissing me on the top of my head.

"Thanks dad," I said back.

"I can't believe that you are graduating high school today," he said looking at me.

"Me either!" I said, turning to look in the mirror at myself in the gown.

I heard the doorbell ring, "I will get it," my dad said.

"Ok," I said turning back to my reflection. I had curled my hair again for this occasion.

"Thea! Come on down! Adam is here!" my father yelled.

"I will be down in a moment!" I said, fixing my hair one more time.

I ran down the stairs to see Adam standing there with his blue gown on.

"Can you believe we are finished with high school?" I asked him.

"No, I honestly cannot," he said.

I went in for a hug, trying not to hurt his broken rib more.

"Pictures!" my father said grabbing the camera.

We both laughed as my dad posed us in the living room and outside on the stairs and around the yard. After our photo shoot, we piled into my dad's car and took off toward the school.

"I will see you both after!" he called to us as we entered the school.

"What comes next?" I asked him before we walked into the auditorium where the rest of our classmates were anxiously waiting to leave this place forever.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully, "But, I do know that I will be there whenever you need it."

"I will be there for you too," I said to him. He kissed me on the lips quickly before we entered the room. He was right, I may not know what the next chapter of my life holds, but I hoped that I would be with him.


	16. Epilouge

Epilogue (seven years later…)

"Thea! Thea! Come on! You don't want to be late to your own wedding!" my father called from the downstairs of our house.

"My own wedding," I said looking at myself in the mirror. I had aged slightly since high school, but I still had my long brown hair, that was pulled back into a half bun, like the night of our prom. I looked down at my dress. It was embroidered with crystals along the bodice that hugged my figure until my waist and flowed out in a few layers of tulle. I put in my small diamond earrings and stood up. This was the last time that I would be in this house as Thea Ivans. I walked out of the practically empty room and turned around and shut the door.

"Thea, you look beautiful," my father said as I came down the stairs, the third stair from the bottom still squeaking after seven years. He met me at the bottom and kissed the top of my head.

"Thanks dad," I said.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"I am ready," I said.

I was ready to marry my best friend. We were having a small wedding in the backyard, only with my father and his cousins, his parents were not going to be there. They left town right after graduation and left Adam in charge of their business endeavors here. We hadn't seen them since then. I went off to college in the next town over to get a business degree to help him with the business, but after only a few weeks, I switched to English. I now teach at the high school we went to, and I write on the side. I decided to write down our story.

It is one that we have lived and learned, and reflecting on the last half of our senior year, I thought it important to let you know what happened after.

Greyson left town and we have not heard of him since then.

Sammie went on to college out of state and has not come back either.

Principal Masters put in his resignation letter only a month after graduation. He felt guilty about what had happened, and went to the town over to be the principal there.

Mr. Henry and Mr. Smith both still work at the school, and many students love them as much as Adam and I did.

Adam and I are getting married today. It has been a long time coming, and we went through some hard times, but we always came out on top. The rest of the story is a blank book for right now. I cannot wait to see what our lives have in store, but I do know that I will be with him, and he will be with me, beauty and the beast.


End file.
